The presidency has ordered the deployment of 2,000 additional troops to the southeast to combat secessionist movement and what it described as an attack on security agents.
According to a security source, the deployment order was given on Friday, just 24 hours after gunmen killed three security police officers and burned a soldier in Enugu state.
Every police station in the southeast will have soldiers attached to them, said the source.
It is not clear if the Nigerian army has started its deployment.