Ekeomah Atuonwu
Police in Nigeria say they are looking for gunmen who killed at least 12 people in the south-eastern state of Anambra, including a pregnant woman and her four children.
The police have blamed the region’s rising violence on Biafra separatists.
According to a community leader, the pregnant woman and her children were returning home on a motorcycle taxi when they were ambushed in the Orumba area by gunmen.
Several other people were killed in separate shootings on Sunday evening. Police say they are looking into the matter. They occurred just one day after the mutilated bodies of a local politician and his aide were discovered a week after they were kidnapped.
/ Google photos /
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a banned separatist group campaigning for a breakaway state in the region, is being blamed for the escalating violence in south-eastern Nigeria.
Some of the attacks have been denied by the group. Security forces are also dealing with armed groups that are carrying out murders and kidnappings in other parts of Nigeria.
More than 30 people were reported killed or kidnapped in an attack in Borno state last Sunday in the country’s north-east. In that region, Boko Haram and an IS-linked group are active.
The widespread insecurity is a major concern ahead of the elections scheduled for February of next year.
