Scores kidnapped as gunmen blocked Enugu-Port Harcourt highway

There are indications several passengers were, on Saturday, abducted when gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen blocked Enugu-Port Harcourt highway between Leru Junction and Ihube Community.

The area, according to sources, a boundary between Imo and Abia states, Nigeria’s South-east.

The gunmen, numbering about 30, were said to have attacked three buses along the road and abducted the entire passengers.

The attackers reportedly razed a military van and wounded two soldiers who attempted to confront them, before forcing all occupants of the three buses into a nearby bush, according to a report.

Sources said the situation has caused fear among residents of the area.

Commuters were said to have mistaken the gunmen for police officers mounting roadblock.

Some of the commuters who stepped out of their vehicles to know the cause of a gridlock along the road, scampered for safety when the gunmen opened fire on the military van, a youth leader in the community was quoted as saying.

He said some people sustained bullet wounds, as motorists ran away, abandoning their vehicles.

Commissioner for Information in Abia State, Chikamnayo Eze, has also confirmed the attack.

He, however, said the incident occurred at the Imo State side of the expressway.

Mr. Eze, who is the Secretary of Umunneochi Security Committee, recently inaugurated by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, to tackle rising insecurity in the area, appealed for more time to provide details of the attack.