5 Dies As MASSOB Clashes With Joint Task Force In Onitsha

FIVE persons were killed on Thursday when members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB and their counterpart, Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB clashed with Joint Task Force, JTFin Onitsha, Anambra State.
Members of the two groups had trooped to the Niger Bridge in celebration of the release from detention, the founder of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu by the Federal Government.

The peaceful protest later turned bloody when a soldier was allegedly seized by the protesters. Angered by the overzealous mobs, the soldiers and the police opened fire and killed five persons while about seven other sustained injuries.

Commenting on the brouhaha, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Ali Okechukwu accused the pro-Biafra agitators of mobilizing over I00 of their members to launch attack on the soldiers at the Niger Bridge Head and even tried to dispossess them of their guns.

He said: “I learnt that there was a disagreement between the Army, IPOB and MASSOB members, who mobilized over I00 of their members to attack soldiers at the Niger Bridge Head.”