Terrorists on Sunday 17 March, 2024 night kidnapped 87 people after launching a fresh attack on the Kajuru-Station community in the Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
A member of the Kajuru-Station Youths, Harisu Dari, confirmed the incident to our correspondent in Kaduna.
According to the source, the terrorists also broke into some shops and stole food items and other valuables. He said they invaded the village around 10pm.
The attack came barely two days after 15 women and a man were abducted in the Dogon-Noma community of the same Local Government.
Kajuru and Chikun LGs had in the past two weeks become the hotbed of kidnapping, causing tension in the state. Harisu explained that no contact has been established yet with the 87 locals abducted as at Sunday night.
“As of the time I visited the community this morning, no security operatives have been drafted to help restore the confidence of the villagers.
“The villagers are traumatised by the sad development. The government needs to re-strategise in tackling these terrorists,” he said.
According to the PUNCH report, that terrorists had in two weeks kidnapped over 172 villagers. The Kaduna State Police Command confirmed the abduction of no fewer than 87 residents of Kajuru-Station in Kajuru by bandits on Sunday.
The Public Relations Officer of the command, ASP Mansir Hassan, however, said the figures were uncertain for now. Hassan said the command had deployed its personnel to the area in a bid to rescue the victims.
As kidnapping persisted in Kaduna, a suicide bomber lost his life, while an unspecified number of persons were injured in a failed attempt to bomb a section of Biu town in Borno State on Sunday.
Sources told The PUNCH that a male bomber wearing an explosive vest stormed a local restaurant in Biu town on Sunday, but while attempting to gain entry into the Marvelous Restaurant, the explosive device exploded.
Sources said the incident occurred at exactly 7:40pm, when a loud sound was heard in their neighborhood about 2km away from Nigeria Army University, Biu, Borno State.
“He was a lonely suicide bomber and he was making an attempt to enter the restaurant before he blew up himself,” an eye witness who identified himself as Mohammed Idris, said, adding that “unspecified number of persons sustained various degrees of injuries.”
The 7 Division Nigerian Army spokesman, Lt Col Ahemusu Jingina, could not be reached immediately for any confirmation, but a reliable security source confirmed that the bomber died instantly.
The source stated that the whole area had been scanned and security agencies put on alert in case of any attempt to create more security breaches.
The incident occurred less than five hours after the Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, distributed food palliatives in Biu to 52,500 vulnerable residents of seven Local Government Areas of Southern Borno zone. ASP Kenneth Daso, Borno Police Command spokesman, confirmed the incident to our correspondent.
He, however, stated that “we have not yet ascertained if he was a suicide bomber meant for that place or he was on his way to an unknown target; but we are still investigating.”
Godwin Isenyo, Israel Bulus and Uthman Abubakar
