A United States convoy was attacked in Nigeria on Tuesday killing four people, including two personnel from the US consulate and two police officers, and kidnapping three others, according to local police and US officials.
The personnel who were killed were not US citizens, according to the White House and the local police. “No US citizens were involved and therefore there were no US citizens hurt,” said John Kirby of the US National Security Council. “We are aware of some casualties, perhaps even some killed.”
When the assailants saw security forces “they made away with two police operatives and a driver of the second vehicle in the convoy,” Ikenga Tochukwu, deputy superintendent of police, said. “No US citizen was in the convoy,” he added.
Police said that joint security forces “have embarked on a rescue and recovery operation in the area.”
A State Department spokesperson said Tuesday that “Mission Nigeria personnel are working with Nigerian security services to investigate.”
They continued: “The security of our personnel is always paramount, and we take extensive precautions when organizing trips to the field,” they continued.
Authorities have blamed the violence on a separatist group known as the Indigenous People of Biafra which is leading a campaign for the region to break away from the West African nation to form an independent country. The separatists have become more violent in the last few years as they continue to demand a referendum and since the trial of its leader Nnamdi Kanu on terrorism charges.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has rejected the calls for a referendum, insisting that the unity of Africa’s most populous country — and the continent’s largest economy — is not negotiable.
