The Nigerian military has reported that rebels in the southeastern region, seeking to break away from Nigeria, assaulted the soldiers deployed to curb the unrest, resulting in the deaths of five soldiers and six civilians.
The soldiers were attacked on Thursday at a checkpoint in Aba town in Abia state. The separatists were enforcing a lockdown to remember the Republic of Biafra, which fought a war in 1967 to become independent from Nigeria.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) wants to create their own country in the southeast. They use lockdowns to try to make this happen, even though many people died in a war in the past. Many people have been killed in violent lockdowns and attacks by a group that says it wants to peacefully break away from the country.
The Nigerian army sent soldiers to keep peace in Aba town, but the militants unexpectedly attacked their security outpost. “Buba said that six innocent people were also killed in the fighting. ”
He said that the Nigerian military is very busy dealing with other security problems in different parts of the country, but they will keep trying to catch the people who did this. “We will use a lot of military force to make sure the group is completely defeated,” he said.
The IPOB group is asking for their leader Nnamdi Kanu to be released from jail. He is facing charges of treason and terrorism.
The southeast of Nigeria used to be very safe, but now it has violence and more people are becoming poor because of the lockdowns that are hurting the economy.
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11 separatist insurgents in southeast Nigeria killed, including soldiers
