AKWA, Nigeria (The Informant247) – Scores, mostly security operatives, were on Sunday killed when gunmen attacked the convoy of a Nigerian lawmaker, Ifeanyi Ubah, in the country’s southeastern Anambra state, locals and police said on Monday.
Locals said the gunmen ambushed and opened fire on the convoy of the politician representing Anambra South District at the Nigerian senate in Njikoka Local Government Area, killing a yet-to-be-confirmed number of police officers.
Ubah, reportedly escaped the attack – which many speculated to be an assassination attempt – with injuries while police officers in the convoy engaged the gunmen in a shootout during which more than three of them were killed.
“Some of his aides were killed, including some police officers. The senator managed to escape as his car was riddled with bullets,” a witness said. “I was driving to that spot from the link road to the express when some people in a shop shouted at me and asked me to turn back and take another route, which I did.”
“There was an attack at Enugwu-Ukwu today, but the casualty figure is not clear,” state police spokesperson Tochukwu Ikenga said.
He said the details of the attack were still sketchy.
“Police operatives are on ground there as operations are going on. The situation is being monitored,” the police spokesperson said.
Nigeria’s southeastern states have witnessed several attacks which authorities blamed on a separatist group, IPOB.