PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the attack of team of a US Security Advance team in which four persons were killed in Ogbaru, Anambra State, on Tuesday, May 16.

This is even as a combined team of security forces in Anambra State have been combing Amiyi/Eke Ochuche and other communities in Ogbaru Council of the state to track down killers of two staff members of the United States Embassy in Nigeria and two officers of the Police Mobile Force (PMF) personnel whose convoy was attacked last Tuesday in the area.

The operation is also said the operation is to rescue other personnel and a US Consulate driver who were abducted in the attack.

The four were part of a US Security Advance team were killed in an attack in Ogbaru,Anambra State, on Tuesday, May 16.

The Police in Anambra State confirmed that “there were shootings in Ogbaru” and that its men were working to put the situation under control.

A spokesman of the US Mission Nigeria also confirmed the attack, adding: “We’re working with Nigeria security service to investigate the matter,” adding that the security of the US Mission personnel remains paramount and the Mission takes extensive precautions when organising trips to the field.

The gunmen had attacked, killed and set their bodies ablaze alongside their vehicles. Earlier report of US citizens being among the dead has turned out to be false, even though the Police expressed worry that such a high-flyer entry could be made into the state without due notification.

The gunmen reportedly ambushed the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) officials who were on a humanitarian mission to a rural community and abducted two Police personnel and the driver of the vehicle in the entourage before escaping.

Other officials of the embassy escaped from the scene with degrees of injuries, but it remains unclear if the humanitarian missionaries and the Police personnel were the actual targets or simply victims of circumstance.

The attack had caused panic and pandemonium in the community, as residents who had assembled to receive medical treatment from the UNICEF officials scampered to safety.

  Buhari, in a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, expressed worry over the development, saying: “It was saddening to hear about the killing of the US embassy officials and our policemen.

“It is, indeed, a difficult time for families of those killed, the US Embassy and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). I, therefore, extend the nation’s condolences to families of victims.”

Also, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has condemned the attack. Obi, a former governor of the state, said: “This despicable act is highly condemnable.” He sympathised with families of those killed, the US Embassy and other charitable international agencies involved.”