LAGOS, May 10, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Gunmen blocked a highway in Nigeria's southeastern Imo state this week, killing at least three people and injuring several, police said on Saturday.

Imo state police spokesman Henry Okoye told AFP that around 5:00 am (0400 GMT) on Thursday "criminal elements suspected to be members of the proscribed IPOB... came out in their numbers... and blocked the Owerri-Okigwe highway and began to fire sporadically".

He said the gunmen fired on "commuters on the road and they were able to set some vehicles ablaze and killed some innocent individuals".

"For now three persons have been confirmed dead," he said.

Amnesty International reported in a post on X a toll of 30. Police called that "sensationalising".

Okoye said the gunmen engaged in a battle with police and one suspect was killed while another was arrested.

These are "miscreants who are masquerading under the umbrella of freedom fighting, perpetrating all kinds of dastardly acts, including senseless killing. They are just pure terrorists."

The attack occurred on the same day President Bola Tinubu was visiting Imo's neighbouring Anambra state to launch infrastructural projects.

Police blamed the attack on Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a group that wants independence for the Igbo people in southeast Nigeria.

Former London estate agent and founder of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu is on trial on terrorism charges in the capital Abuja.