A yet-to-be-identified number of persons have been killed in Aba, the commercial nerve of Abia State following an attack on a military checkpoint by suspected operatives of the Eastern Security Network.
Sources said the group of the operatives engaged the army in a gunfight during which about six persons were killed.
However, eyewitnesses said the number of persons killed could be higher due to the intensity of the shooting.
The incident occurred at the Ariaria junction on Tuesday night. Locals said they heard gunshots in the area which lasted for hours.
It was gathered that the soldiers was already lying in wait for the cultists following intelligence report about the attack.
Recall that unknown gunmen have been running rampage in Anambra, Abia and parts of Imo State, killing over 14 security agents.
On Tuesday, the army launched a Show of Force in Onitsha, blocking strategic positions, creating tension in the area.
But the Indigenous People of Biafra debunked the reports alleging that scores killed in Aba on Tuesday by the Nigerian Army and police were operatives Eastern Security Network.
The separatist group challenged the Nigerian security agents to publish pictures of their operation.
Emma Powerful, the media and publicity secretary of the group said the army was lying by claiming they killed ESN operatives, adding that those killed are innocent citizens.
According to Powerful: “Ask the army and police to show pictures or videos of those ESN operatives they killed. Army, police, air force, including all the other security outfits in Nigeria cannot do ESN anything, not when they killed innocent citizens and they tagged them ESN operatives.
“Ask the soldiers to disclose where ESN camp is located and how it looks like. Don’t mind the army propaganda machine because we know them before they come, they can’t deceive us. ESN is rooted and Nigerian security agencies cannot come across them.
“ESN is out to defend and protect our land and forest; nothing they can do to stop us. Let them come; we are waiting for them. Let them show the bodies of those they claimed to have killed. Nigerian soldiers should stop lying to the public.”
