A driver of a privately-owned Toyota Highlander SUV was killed on Sunday when gunmen attacked motorists in Amala, a community in Ngor-Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria’s South-east
The police spokesperson in Imo State, Henry Okoye, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.
Mr Okoye, a deputy superintendent of police, said the gunmen, at about 5:50 p.m. on Sunday, emerged from a nearby bush and shot the driver of the SUV before abducting “all occupants” of a separate Lexus SUV.
“On receiving the information, officers from Ngor-Okpala Division swiftly mobilised to the scene, secured the area, and evacuated the victim to the hospital, where he was confirmed dead,” he said.
The police spokesperson did not mention the number of people abducted by the gunmen during the attack.
Combing of bushes
Mr Okoye said the Commissioner of Police in Imo State, Aboki Danjuma, has launched a manhunt for the attackers.
The spokesperson said the police and other security agencies as well as vigilante operatives were conducting the operation to track down the attackers and rescue the abducted victims.
“Joint security operatives have commenced: Bush-combing, search-and-rescue and suspect-tracking within the Amala forest axis and surrounding communities,” he stated.
He urged residents to remain calm and endeavour to assist the security agencies with “information” that can assist ongoing operation.
Setting up joint taskforce for insecurity
The latest attack occurred days after Governor Alex Otti of Abia State and his Imo State counterpart, Hope Uzodimma, launched a joint security taskforce to address the increasing attacks on the highway connecting the two south-eastern states.
A media aide to Governor Otti, Ferdinand Ekeoma, had announced that the two governors decided to set up the joint taskforce at their emergency security meeting on Thursday at the Imo State Government House in Owerri.
Mr Ekeoma said the core mandate of the task force was to carry out surveillance along the Aba-Owerri Expressway, starting from Owerrinta in Abia State to Owerri in Imo State and beyond.
The joint taskforce, according to the governors, comprised the military personnel, police operatives, State Security Service operatives, and other security agencies.
The setting up of the joint taskforce came exactly two days after gunmen attacked three government officials attached to Governor Otti in Owerri, the Imo State capital.
Increased attacks
Like in other states in the South-east, security has deteriorated in Imo State with frequent attacks by armed persons in recent times.
The attacks often target security agencies, government officials and facilities.
Attacks by cultists, kidnappers, armed robbers and separatists have combined to worsen the insecurity in the South-east lately.
Hundreds of persons have been killed or abducted and several others injured in some of such attacks in the region.
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The Nigerian government has repeatedly accused the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the region.
But the separatist group has repeatedly denied its involvement in the attacks.
IPOB is a group leading agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria.
Its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, was recently convicted and then sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorism at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
