SUSPECTED separatist gunmen have killed eight police officers during the past week in south-east Nigeria, authorities said on Monday.

The attacks come just days before the country’s presidential elections this weekend.

Four officers were killed in an attack at a station in Anambra state on Monday, while authorities searched for suspects accused of killing four others last weekend, police spokesman Tochukwu Ikenga said. 

The assailants opened fire on officers while detonating explosives, he said, adding that three of the attackers were killed and two more arrested.

Without providing evidence the police blamed the attacks on a separatist group known as the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which wants the south-east region to gain independence from the west African country.

Authorities have accused the IPOB of instigating violence which has led to many deaths in the region and stoked fears about the ability of Nigeria’s security forces to protect voters at the polls.

Festus Okoye, an official with Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, said: “The security agencies have promised that they have the capacity to secure our communities to make it possible for people to vote.

”But for people in zones that are still in conflict, there is absolutely nothing we can do.”