The US is helping Nigerian security agencies investigate an attack on an American convoy in the West African nation in which at least four people were reportedly killed.
(Bloomberg) — The US is helping Nigerian security agencies investigate an attack on an American convoy in the West African nation in which at least four people were reportedly killed.
The attack took place in Nigeria’s southeastern Anambra state on Tuesday, a US Mission Nigeria spokesperson said in response to questions, without giving further details. “US Mission Nigeria personnel are working with Nigerian security services to investigate.”
At least four people died and three others were abducted in the incident, Agence France-Presse reported. Among the dead were two members of Nigeria’s Police Mobile Force and two US consulate staff, it said, citing police spokesman Ikenga Tochukwu.
“No US citizens were involved, and therefore there were no US citizens hurt,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a briefing at the White House on Tuesday. The US State Department is looking into the matter, he said.
A separatist group in southeastern Nigeria, the Indigenous People of Biafra, has waged an increasingly violent campaign to create an independent state of Biafra. A thriving kidnapping-for-ransom industry has also emerged in recent years. Security agencies and individuals have been targeted in the violence.
President-elect Bola Tinubu, who will be inaugurated on May 29, has pledged to beef up the military to tackle insecurity in the country, which has also been struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency and terror attacks in northern Nigeria. US Secretary of State held talks with Tinubu on Tuesday and promised the US’s “continued comprehensive security cooperation, and reforms to support economic growth.”
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