Gunmen kill monarch, aides in southeast Nigeria

By Olanrewaju Kola

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AA) - Gunmen suspected to be members of a separatist group have killed a senior monarch and two of his aides in southeast Nigeria, police said on Tuesday.

A police spokesman, Michael Abattam, said some gunmen in four vehicles and two motorcycles, entered Obudi Agwa, Oguta area in Imo State on Monday afternoon and opened fire on the monarch Ignatius Asor and two of his aides. In Nigeria, the term monarch is often used for a local tribal ruler.

"The corpses have been removed and deposited in the mortuary, and the community fortified with enough police operatives,” said the spokesman in a statement.

He said the gunmen entered the palace pretending to have come to report an incident to the monarch.

He blamed the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for the attack.

IPOB which seeks to carve out of Nigeria an independent Biafra nation has been responsible for a string of violent attacks in the area.

In mid-October, four Nigerian soldiers were reportedly killed by IPOB in neighboring Enugu State, although the group later dismissed the claim.