Onitsha, Nigeria –
In the latest violence to rock a volatile region ahead of Saturday’s elections, a police spokesperson said Tuesday that gunmen have killed seven Nigerian police officers since the weekend in the southeast.
Widespread unrest is one of the biggest concerns for Nigerians as they head to the polls to elect a new member of parliament and a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari.
In the southeast, violence by armed gangs and suspected separatist groups has killed dozens this year, and has also attacked election commissions, police stations and government buildings.
Ikenga Tochukwu, a police spokesman for Anambra, said three police officers were killed after gunmen used improvised explosive devices and opened fire at a police station in the Idemiri local government area.
Gunmen used Molotov cocktails and automatic weapons on Saturday and Sunday to attack two police stations in the Idemili and Oyi local government areas, killing four police officers, Tochukw added.
He said suspected members of the separatist group Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) were behind the attacks.
IPOB, which the Buhari government has branded as a terrorist group, denied responsibility.
The southeastern part is home to the Ibo homeland ethnic group. An attempt to secede as the Republic of Biafra in 1967 sparked her three-year civil war in which over a million people died.
Reporting by Anamesere Igboeroteonwu, writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe, editing by Andrew Cawthorne
