Four security officials were killed in a car bomb targeting a former government official in southeastern Nigeria, authorities said Tuesday.
Three policemen and a paramilitary officer were killed in the attack in Imo state on a convoy carrying former governor Ikedi Ohakim, police commissioner Mohammed Barde said.
“The man (Ohakim) was ambushed and was able to maneuver and escape,” Barde said. The four security personnel were killed in another car, he said. The attack was an unfortunate setback for government efforts to restore peace to some of Nigeria’s conflict-ridden southeastern states, Barde said.
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Southeastern Nigeria has seen a rise in violent attacks in recent years, often blamed on separatists trying to secede from the West African nation to form an independent country. Separatists who identify as the Indigenous People of Biafra have grown more violent amid calls for a referendum. Their attacks often target prominent people and security forces in the southeast, conflict experts say.
Three police officers and a paramilitary officer have been killed in a car bomb attack in southeastern Nigeria.
(KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images)
A manhunt was launched to arrest the assailants, authorities said.
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The attack has raised fears among local residents, who fear that security will be threatened in the area during the country’s presidential election in February.
The violence comes months after an ambush of a lawmaker in the southeastern state of Anambra killed four police officers in September. Following that incident last year, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said he is “deeply concerned” about the troubled region.
