At least nine people, including four civilians and five security personnel, were killed during a security operation to rescue victims abducted by suspected members of an international terrorist organisation in Oyo State.
The Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Tosin Ajayi, disclosed the casualty figure in an interview published by Premium Times.
Ajayi said security agencies launched an immediate pursuit after receiving credible intelligence about the abduction.
According to him, a vigilante and a police officer were killed during the initial pursuit, while further casualties were recorded when security operatives later raided the kidnappers’ hideout.
“Immediately after the incident happened, based on credible intelligence, troops chased them immediately, and sadly, a vigilante and a policeman were killed. During the second raid, more were killed, making a total of nine fatalities, four civilians and five security personnel,” Ajayi said.
He described the rescue mission as a complex operation, particularly because one of the victims was a two-and-a-half-year-old child who would have been unable to flee quickly if security forces had launched an assault on the location.
“It was a complex operation involving a two-and-a-half-year-old infant who could not run much if we invaded the place,” he said.
The DSS chief also raised concerns about what he described as a wave of misinformation circulated on social media during the operation.
He said videos shared online and purportedly showing children being tortured in connection with the incident were old footage from another country and had no connection with the Oyo abduction.
“As expected, the rescue operation attracted a lot of social media disinformation. You have to sieve the information there,” Ajayi said.
He added that some of the videos were presented as current footage despite being unrelated to the operation.
“While that incident lasted, they were posting deepfake videos of children beaten with lacerations on their bodies. They were actually footage from a particular country on witchcraft-related incidents passed off as real-time crude events here,” he said.
Ajayi urged journalists to strengthen verification efforts when reporting sensitive security incidents and to distinguish confirmed information from false or manipulated material.
“Recall the victims recounted how well-treated they were by the criminals. So, one of the things I’d like you to do in the media is fact-finding and separating facts from fiction,” he said.
Group Linked to Al-Qaeda, DSS Says
The DSS director-general identified the group allegedly responsible for the abduction as an international terrorist organisation with links to Al-Qaeda.
He said the Service had previously arrested leaders of the group, whom he accused of involvement in the Abuja-Kaduna train attack and of planning further abductions.
Ajayi said the suspects had allegedly been preparing attacks targeting foreigners, students, women and children.
“Citizens ought to know that the incarcerated leaders of the kidnap group who were requested in exchange for the victims were arrested last year by the Service; their arrest helped to prevent high-profile attacks,” he said.
He added that the suspects were “found complicit in the Abuja/Kaduna train attack and were planning more kidnappings of foreigners, students, women and their children on a large scale”.
According to Ajayi, the group was seeking recognition as a state and permission to practise its religion within a designated territory.
He said the arrest of its leaders had therefore formed part of a proactive strategy to prevent further attacks.
Ajayi said the alleged kingpins and three other collaborators had been sentenced to life imprisonment, although the DSS intended to seek a harsher sentence.
“The kingpins are the ones now sentenced to life imprisonment. The three other collaborators earned life imprisonment, and the Service will push for a stiffer penalty,” he said.
Oyo Abduction
The abduction reportedly took place on 15 May 2026, when armed men attacked three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State and abducted pupils and teachers.
Security agencies subsequently mounted a joint operation that resulted in the rescue of the victims.
The circumstances surrounding the deaths recorded during the operation, including the identities of those killed, were not disclosed in the account provided by the DSS director-general.
