The Nigerian Army has stated that its operatives have killed one member of the Eastern Security Network ESN, an armed group of the proscribed Indigenous People Of Biafra IPOB, and discovered corpses suspected to be of kidnapped victims.
Army spokesman Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu said the corpses found are of the hostages kidnapped from Ihiala and Orsulu Local Government Areas of Anambra and Imo States.
He said they had successfully dismantled four such camps on the Orsumoghu-Mbosi to Ihiala-Uli road set up by the militants.
General Nwachukwu said the troops killed one member of the ESN and arrested three others, while recovering rifles, ammunition, two mobile phones, a Hilux car, cannabis and N1,920 cash.
Similarly, the Army spokesman said that the 82nd Infantry Division of the Nigerian Army along with the Police had carried out a similar operation against the IPOB militants who attacked Nkanu West Local Government polling station in Enugu State.
He said, during the operation in Obeagu Uno, seven AK-47 rifles, 10 other rifles, a cache of ammunition, one grenade and a pickup truck were also recovered.
The spokesperson said the recovered items were handed over to the Enugu State Police Command.
The proscribed IPOB established by Nnamdi Kanu in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria, formed ESN in December 2020, as a reaction to their perception that they are being targeted by Muslim Fulani herders, whom they accuse of grazing on their farmlands and committing crimes against local residents.
The movement then morphed into a paramilitary unit with broader functions suspected to be responsible for carrying out many attacks in the region. While Nigerian government saw the ESN as a threat to its existence and deployed the army to locate and destroy ESN bases and eventually proscribed the IPOB activities.
