The White House has announced that an attack on an American convoy in Nigeria on Monday resulted in multiple deaths.
The Atani-Osamale road in the Ogbaru region is where the attack took place, according to the Nigerian police. According to Washington, there were no Americans in the convoy, which was passing through a region of the state where violence and a separatist insurrection were common occurrences.
In recent years, separatists in the area have ramped up their attacks, which typically aim at law enforcement or governmental facilities.
John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, confirmed that none of the incident’s victims were American citizens.
The US consulate in Anambra lost two staffers on Tuesday, and the state police lost two officers, according to reports. The assailants burned their car and took three other persons hostage.
U.S. officials told the BBC that “there was an incident on May 16 in Anambra state” and that they collaborated with Nigerian authorities to learn more about the incident.
According to Tochukwu, joint security forces were dispatched to the crime scene, but the assailants had already kidnapped two police officers and their driver. On Tuesday night, he said a “rescue/recovery operation” had begun.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) movement is fighting for a breakaway state in the southeast of Nigeria, and the Nigerian government frequently blames them for violent attacks in the region.
Since Ipob established an armed wing in December 2020, there has been a dramatic increase in attacks on security forces in Anambra and other parts of the southeast.
While Kirby did say the State Department is investigating the attack, very little information has emerged as of yet.
Personnel from “Mission Nigeria” and the Nigerian security forces are investigating.
