Prime News Ghana

Army couple's beheading linked to Nigeria separatists

By Justice Kofi Bimpeh
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Nigeria's military has linked the beheading of an army couple to the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob), a group that wants a breakaway state in south-east Nigeria.

The couple was killed over the weekend while heading to Imo state for their traditional wedding.

Army spokesman Onyema Nwachukwu termed the killings “gruesome, barbaric and most despicable”.

He blamed the armed wing of Ipob - the Eastern Security Network - for the killings.

"The Nigerian army will ensure the perpetrators of this dastardly act unleashed on its personnel do not go unpunished," he said in a statement.

It's unclear if Ipob has responded to the accusations by the army.

The local Punch newspaper said the attackers made a video of the incident and circulated it online.

The Ipob movement was founded by Nnamdi Kanu in 2014.

It wants a group of states in south-east Nigeria, made up mainly of people from the Igbo ethnic group, to break away and form the independent nation of Biafra.

BBC