Following the killing of four police operatives in Owerri, Imo, Simon Ekpa, a controversial Biafran agitator, has claimed responsibility for the killings.

It would be recalled that gunmen attacked and killed four police operatives along the Onitsha-Owerri Expressway at about 6:30 p.m. on Monday.

They also shot dead a woman who operates a point of sale machine in the area.

Mr Ekpa, who is based in Finland, founded Biafra Defence Forces and Biafra Liberation Army, which are armed militant wings of IPOB.

In the past, he has been linked to some deadly attacks in the region.

In a post on his X handle shortly after the attack, Mr Ekpa announced that members of his Biafra Defence Forces had killed the operatives in Owerri.

“The Biafra Defence Forces Owerri Command has recovered weapons from the terrorists after neutralising them in numbers,” he wrote on the microblogging platform at exactly 8:50 p.m. on Monday.

On more than one occasion, Ekpa has referred to police officials as “terrorists”.

The Biafra agitator said he and his group are demanding the withdrawal of all Nigerian security forces from the South East and that they were committed to enforcing the demand.

“If you think you will continue to use force and terrorism tactics to force us to remain in the union, this will continue to be your faith in Biafraland,” Ekpa stated, referring to the latest attack on the police.

Recently, the co-chair of Interfaith Peace and Dialogue Forum, Bishop Sunday Onuoha, opined that the federal government should lead the efforts toward extradition of Simon Ekpa to Nigeria.

Bishop Onuoha suggested that the federal government should lead the conversation on his possible extradition from Finland to Nigeria to face the law.