NO fewer than 115 persons have been allegedly killed by security operatives between March and June in the South-East, according to a report by Amnesty International.
The report claimed that relatives of the victims denied the deceased were part of the militants that were attacking security agents.
Titled, ’Nigeria: At least 115 people killed by security forces in four months in country’s Southeast,’ the report said many of the victims were deposited at government hospitals in Imo and Abia states.
Nigerian security forces have committed a catalogue of human rights violations and crimes under international law in their response to spiralling violence in Southeast Nigeria, carrying out a repressive campaign since January which has included sweeping mass arrests, excessive and unlawful force, and torture and other ill-treatment, said Amnesty International, said the report.
The report noted, “Nigeria’s government has responded with a heavy hand to killings and violence widely attributed to the armed group calling itself Eastern Security Network, the armed wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra, a pro-Biafra movement.
The human rights groups estimated that the death toll from violence between January and June 2021 in Anambra, Imo, Abia, and Ebonyi states might run into the hundreds, adding that the police said ESN fighters killed 21 of its personnel in Imo State alone.
The Country Director at Amnesty International, Osai Ojigho, stated: “The evidence gathered by Amnesty International paints a damning picture of ruthless excessive force by Nigerian security forces in Imo, Anambra and Abia states.”
“According to government officials, the ESN killed dozens of security operatives and attacked at least ten public buildings, including prisons and police stations, from January to June. In response, security forces comprising military, police, and Department of State Services have killed dozens of gunmen, as well as civilians, where attacks have been committed.”
Several hospital sources, who spoke to AI also stressed that all the victims deposited by the police had bullet injuries.
More than 500 were arrested after police and military raids, said the report, adding that at least 21 personnel were killed in three months in Imo State.
Eyewitnesses told AI that the security forces engaged in excessive use of force, physical abuse, secret detentions, extortion, burning of houses, theft, and extrajudicial executions of suspects.
