Amnesty International reported on Friday that gunmen fatally shot at least 30 travelers in an attack in Nigeria’s southeastern Imo state.
The rights group’s statement raises further alarm about the escalating violence in the insecure region.
According to Amnesty’s post on X, over 20 vehicles, including trucks, were set on fire by the attackers, who are suspected to be members of the banned separatist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Imo police spokesperson Henry Okoye confirmed the attack, which occurred in the early hours of Thursday.
However, he declined to comment on the number of deaths. Okoye did tell Reuters on Friday that police killed one of the assailants.
A police statement detailed that the gunmen operated in three groups, barricading the highway around 0400 GMT.
They then fired shots sporadically before setting vehicles ablaze.
The police added that a “full-scale search and cordon operation is currently underway,” with security forces searching nearby forests and surrounding areas believed to be hiding places for the suspects.
IPOB advocates for the secession of southeastern Nigeria, a region where the majority of the population belongs to the Igbo ethnic group.
Nigerian authorities have officially designated IPOB as a terrorist organization.
The Biafra region was the site of a devastating civil war in the late 1960s, which resulted in the deaths of over one million people.
The attack on Thursday coincided with a visit by President Bola Tinubu to the southeast. It also occurred in the same week that IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu appeared in federal court to face trial on terrorism charges.
Amnesty International has called on Nigerian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the attack and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.