According to sources in the Ogbaru Community, the recent attack on US Consulate officials in Anambra was not a targeted attack on US officials. Instead, the attack was reportedly one of many coordinated attacks that occurred on Tuesday.
Two victims, alleged to be US Consulate staff, were shot dead on Tuesday evening while on an official engagement. Also, two security men attached to them were killed. The gunmen also abducted a police operative who had come to counter the attack. Anambra Police spokesperson, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the incident.
However, some indigenes of Ogbaru who spoke with Media Talk Africa, claimed that there were no fewer than three attacks in the area on Tuesday. They confirmed that aside from the attack on the US officials, some other unidentified people were also killed and set ablaze in their vehicles.
Mr Arinze Nzeli, a youth leader in Ogbaru, said that the attacks happened in two separate places in Ogbaru. One occurred in Ochuche, where the officials were killed, and the second incident was at Ogbakuba, close to a place called Sule Farm, where one vehicle was set ablaze.
“In the second attack, there were UN officials because they usually come to the community. I see them each time they come, and they take pictures and also hold projects in the community. There is usually an inscription ‘UN’ on their vehicles, and their security is not usually much each time they come to the community,” he added.
Another community leader and House of Representatives member-elect, Afam Ogene, confirmed that the officials were identified as US consulate officials. He added that “The US Consulate vehicle was attacked and burnt immediately after St. Patrick’s Farms, on the approach to the Umunankwo community. Three other yet-to-be-identified vehicles were also burnt in another attack: one at Ogbakuba, while two were around Amiyi junction, with their human occupants still aflame as of 9 pm yesterday.”
While the police have yet to comment on these claims, it is clear that the attack was a coordinated and violent one. The Ogbaru community, as well as the Nigerian government and international agencies, will need to investigate these incidents further to ensure that those responsible are held accountable for their actions.
