GUNMEN using dynamite attacked a police station in Nigeria’s restive southeast earlier today, just a day after two constables were killed in another attack in the area, said police.

The attacks in Imo were the latest violence in the volatile region where separatist violence is on the rise.

“The gunmen came with dynamite in the early hours of today and bombed part of the station at Oru, but the assault was repelled,” said state police spokesman Michael Abattam.

Four of the attackers were killed, he added.

“Four of the gunmen were neutralised and five IED (improvised explosive devices) recovered.”

Abattam yesterday said a number of gunmen armed with explosives attacked Umuguma police station outside Owerri, the state capital, leaving two constables dead.

Some gunmen also invaded the residence of George Obiozor, the leader of Ohanaeze, the Igbo cultural union, and destroyed part of the building with explosives, he added.

Obiozor was not at home at the time of the attack.

“We are on the trail of the attackers with a view to bringing them to justice,” said Abattam.

Southeast Nigeria has seen a surge in violence, with more than 130 police and other security officers killed by gunmen since last year, according to local media tallies.

Authorities blamed attacks on either the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (POB) movement, which is campaigning for a separate state for the ethnic Igbo people, or its armed wing, known as ESN.

The group has denied responsibility for the violence.

Separatist movements in the country are particularly sensitive, after a 1967 unilateral declaration of an independent Biafra republic by dissident Igbo army officers sparked a 30-month civil war.

More than one million people died, most of them Igbos, from the impact of conflict, disease and hunger. – AFP, March 20, 2022.