Gunmen attacked a highway in Nigeria’s Imo state early Thursday, killing at least 30 travellers, according to Amnesty International.
The assailants, suspected to be members of the banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), set over 20 vehicles and trucks ablaze.
Imo state police spokesperson Henry Okoye confirmed the attack occurred around 4 a.m. but declined to give a death toll.
One attacker was reportedly shot dead by police during the incident, Okoye told Reuters on Friday.
Authorities said the gunmen, operating in three groups, opened fire indiscriminately before torching vehicles and fleeing into the forest.
Police have launched a sweeping search operation, scouring nearby forests believed to be sheltering the attackers.
The IPOB, which seeks secession for Nigeria’s Igbo-majority southeast, is labelled a terrorist organisation by the government.
The region still bears the scars of the 1967–70 Biafra civil war, which claimed over a million lives.
The massacre unfolded during President Bola Tinubu’s visit to the southeast, amplifying tensions in an already volatile landscape.
It also came days after IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu appeared in court to face terrorism charges.
Amnesty International urged Nigerian authorities to investigate the killings and hold those responsible to account.
The attack underscores the deepening insecurity in Nigeria’s southeast, where separatist agitation often erupts into deadly violence.
