2 US consulate staffers, 2 policemen in Nigeria shot, killed in assault on convoy
Two employees members of the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria have been shot and killed together with two police operatives touring in a convoy, and three others have been kidnapped, police within the unstable West Africa nation stated Tuesday.
The group was on a humanitarian mission after they have been attacked within the Ogbaru Native Authorities Space of the nation’s Anambra State, one of many epicenters of separatist violence within the area, stated Tochukwu Ikenga, a police spokesman in Anambra.
Ikenga stated no U.S. citizen was on the journey.
“We verify there was an incident Could 16 in Anambra state. Mission Nigeria personnel are working with Nigerian safety providers to analyze,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson stated.
“The safety of our personnel is all the time paramount, and we take in depth precautions when organizing journeys to the sector. We’ve got no additional remark presently.”
Particulars of the assault weren’t disclosed.
A joint crew of safety forces was deployed to the scene, however arrived solely after the assailants escaped with two different law enforcement officials and one of many drivers, Ikenga added.
“The hoodlums murdered two of the Police Cellular Pressure operatives and two employees of the Consulate, and set their our bodies ablaze and their autos,” Ikenga stated.
It isn’t instantly clear the character of the journey embarked upon by the U.S. Embassy staffers in Anambra, nor what number of there have been within the convoy.
Ikenga stated it was regrettable that “a convoy of such or any associated will enter the state with out recourse to the police within the space or any safety company.”
The assault in Atani City, positioned 37 miles from the state capital, additional raised issues in regards to the security of residents and vacationers amid the separatist violence that has change into rampant in Nigeria’s southeastern area in recent times.
Nigeria has seen a rash of lethal assaults in opposition to distant communities in latest months.
On Tuesday, gunmen attacked villages within the troubled north-central area, killing 29 people and razing homes, and survivors.
The gunmen focused three villages in Plateau state’s Mangu native authorities space late Monday evening, and killed a number of folks both with gunfire or after setting their homes ablaze, one resident stated.
In April, 50 people were killed in two separate assaults authorities imagine are linked.