Militants has attacked and hijack a foreign boat in Atabong community in the Bakassi peninsula, GIST BRIEFLY reports.
The attack which occurred on Wednesday was reportedly carried out by militants belonging to the Biafra Nations League (BnL), a separatist group which later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Reports said the militants opened fire on the boat heading to Nigeria through the Calabar waterways.
“The boat was carrying foreign investors,” said an eyewitness who revealed that the militants seized and dislodged crew members from the boat before suspected Cameroonian forces intervened.
BnL authorities who claimed responsibility for the attack confirmed the report, saying its marine militants managed to hijack the boat before military intervention, but sources on the peninsula said the attack was not successful.
Nigerian and Cameroonian government authorities had called for a joint military operation against the BnL and its allies who had declared a ban on foreign ships and trade at sea on the Bakassi Peninsula, but locals said the militants are still operating in the area where it is headquartered.
In early 2022, the BnL which is calling for a referendum on an independent state known as Biafra, alongside the release of Nnamdi Kanu the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), said it would cease attacks and lift its ban on foreign vessels if the Nigerian government meets its demands.
Source: GIST BRIEFLY