Assault in Imo State ‘reveals callous disregard for the sanctity of life’, rights group Amnesty Worldwide says.
No less than 30 individuals have been killed when gunmen attacked travellers in Nigeria’s southeastern Imo State, in keeping with Amnesty Worldwide.
The human rights NGO reported on Friday that greater than 20 commuter autos and vehicles have been set ablaze throughout a “vicious assault” alongside the Okigwe-Owerri street the day earlier than.
The attackers are suspected of being members of the banned separatist group, Indigenous Folks of Biafra (IPOB), Amnesty stated.
“The assault … reveals callous disregard for the sanctity of life. The gunmen blocked Okigwe-Owerri freeway and areas of Umuna in Onuimo LGA unleashed violence in an utter present of impunity,” Amnesty wrote on X.
“The Nigerian authorities should instantly and transparently examine this assault and be certain that the precise perpetrators are delivered to justice. Worldwide legislation requires the Nigerian authorities to promptly examine illegal killings to deliver perpetrators to justice,” it added.
Amnesty Worldwide strongly condemns the vicious assault on vacationers yesterday 8 Could 2025, alongside Okigwe-Owerri Highway in Imo State, killing at the very least 30 individuals and burning over 20 commuter autos and vehicles.
— Amnesty Worldwide Nigeria (@AmnestyNigeria) May 9, 2025
Imo police spokesperson, Henry Okoye, confirmed that the assault befell within the early hours of Thursday, however declined to touch upon the dying toll.
On Friday, Okoye advised the Reuters information company that one of many assailants had been killed by the police.
In response to a police assertion, the gunmen, working in three teams, blocked the freeway at 04:00 GMT and shot sporadically.
“A full-scale search and cordon operation is presently underway, with safety operatives combing close by forests and surrounding areas the place the suspects are believed to be hiding,” the police stated.
Nigeria’s Premium Occasions additionally reported that the police commissioner of Imo State, Aboki Danjuma, led a joint tactical crew of safety operatives to the scene.
In response to Danjuma, the joint safety crew comprised personnel from Nigeria’s military, the police, and the State Safety Service.
The IPOB, which the Nigerian authorities has classed as an outlawed organisation, has been campaigning for the secession of southeastern Nigeria, the place nearly all of individuals belong to the Igbo ethnic group.
Following the late Nineteen Sixties civil warfare that engulfed the Biafra area, killing a couple of million individuals, separatist teams have continued to push for an unbiased state from the southeast and in some components of the south of Nigeria.
