During weekend fighting between rival cult gangs in Awka, the capital of Anambra State, six people are said to have died.
Sources claim that residents fled for safety as the cultists exchanged sporadic gunfire during their struggle for dominance.
There are fears that those killed were passers-by caught by stray bullets during the shoot-out by the rival cult groups.
Tochukwu Ikenga, the public relations officer for the Anambra State Police, who confirmed the event, said police patrols had been stepped up in the neighborhood and around Awka.
Following the sound of gunshots by Zik Avenue, Awka, police patrol has been intensified in Awka.“Preliminary information revealed that the cause of the shooting was a result of cult-related incident-clash.
“One person was whisked away and later his lifeless body was found along Abba/Ifitedunu Road,” he said.
The police spokesperson said three persons have been arrested by the police in connection with the incident.
Anambra State has experienced a decline in security, similar to other states in the southeast of Nigeria, as a result of a rise of armed assailants. Attacks frequently target government personnel, security agencies, and facilities.
The proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra have been blamed by the Nigerian government for the deadly attacks in the area. However, the gang has consistently denied taking part in the attacks.
The separatist organisation is driving the movement to carve out a separate state of Biafra from the south-east and some regions of the south-south of Nigeria.
On November 7, News Central reported that five people were killed between two cult groups in the Ahoada Area of Rivers State, Nigeria.
It was reported that the competing cult groups engaged in combat close to an IDP camp in Ahoada Town, the administrative centre of Rivers State’s Ahoada-East Local Government Area. One of the four LGAs affected by the state’s current flooding is Ahoada.
The worsening wave of cult-related killings in South-South Nigeria makes it a critical challenge in the region. Recall, in May this year, three persons were reportedly shot dead in Ibaa community, Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State in a cult clash.