Gunmen burn police stations in Nigeria’s southeast, free inmates

Lagos, Nigeria — Gunmen have set two police stations ablaze in Nigeria’s southeast and freed inmates, police said Tuesday, in the latest attacks in a region where separatist tensions have been rising.

In apparently coordinated attacks, gunmen with explosives stormed into police headquarters at Ukpo in Anambra state and another station in Abia state early Monday.

“The attackers, who came in… shooting sporadically in order to gain access to the facility, were repelled by police personnel,” Anambra police area spokesman Nwode Nkeiruka said in a statement.

“Following the inability of the attackers to access the facility, they cowardly threw petrol bombs and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) on vehicles within the periphery of the headquarters,” he said.

He said one of the gunmen was killed while other gang members escaped with gunshot wounds.

“Regrettably, two police operatives sustained gunshot injuries and are presently receiving treatment.”

Gunmen also invaded a divisional police station in Uzuakoli in Abia state and released two inmates there before setting it ablaze.

“The gunmen attacked the station with dynamite and rocket launchers and freed two detainees,” state police spokesman Geoffrey Ogbonna told AFP.

He said an investigation had been launched into the incident.

Southeast Nigeria has seen a surge in attacks targeting security forces that officials blame on the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a separatist group seeking independence for the indigenous Igbo people.

No group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s attacks.

Two weeks ago, a police station and prison were attacked in Owerri, the capital of Imo state, and more than 1,800 inmates freed.

IPOB denied accusations it carried out the Owerri attack, but security forces have launched an operation in the volatile region to “flush out” militants.

Separatist calls for a state of Biafra in the south are a sensitive subject in Nigeria after a unilateral declaration of independence in 1967 sparked a brutal 30-month civil war.