Troops of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) have rescued 10 National Examinations Council (NECO) candidates and teachers abducted during a terrorist attack on a secondary school in Lassa community, Askira/Uba Local Government Area of Borno State.
Similarly, the Oyo State Police Command separately rescued two abducted children and smashed a kidnapping syndicate in the Ibarapa axis.
Acting Military Information Officer of OPHK, Captain Mohammed Goni, disclosed in a statement yesterday that suspected Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists, riding motorcycles, stormed the Technical Secondary School in Lassa, near the Adamawa State border, at about 9 am, while students were sitting their NECO examinations. The attackers, he said, opened fire, killing a teacher and abducting an unspecified number of students and teachers.
The Theatre Command immediately deployed troops and scrambled strike and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft from the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai to support a coordinated search-and-rescue mission, he said.
According to Goni, troops made contact with the terrorists around Daggu, and in the ensuing firefight rescued 10 victims unharmed. He said they were receiving care, adding that seven motorcycles used in the attack were captured.
‘Regrettably, during the intense firefight, one gallant soldier of Operation Hadin Kai and a member of the Civilian Joint Task Force made the supreme sacrifice in the course of defending innocent civilians’, Goni stated.
He added that efforts were ongoing to rescue the remaining abductees and bring the perpetrators to justice.
Goni said operations against the terrorists responsible for the attack had been intensified, and security measures strengthened across vulnerable communities and schools in the area. He described the attack as evidence of the desperation of terrorist groups which, under sustained military pressure, had increasingly targeted soft civilian populations.
The latest attack came barely a month after suspected Boko Haram insurgents abducted 42 students from Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in the same Askira/Uba LGA.
Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, who represents Borno South Senatorial District, urged the Federal Government to adopt a more proactive approach to tackling insurgency, calling for stronger coordination among the military, police, intelligence services and other security outfits to decisively confront the insurgents and stem the tide of abductions in the North-East.
In Oyo State, the police command recorded a separate breakthrough after a gang of heavily armed men on Friday, stormed Ebinpejo Village, via Lanlate in Ibarapa East LGA, ransacked houses, assaulted residents and abducted two children.
Oyo State Police spokesman, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ayanlade Olayinka, said the Commissioner of Police (CP) Abimbola Olugbenga ordered a massive manhunt, directing the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Lanlate to mobilise a joint security team comprising police operatives, the Amotekun Corps, local vigilantes and hunters to comb the forest.
The joint team traced the abductors to their hideout deep in the forest. On sighting the advancing security team, the suspects opened fire, triggering a gun duel in which a 25-year-old suspect, Umaru Usman, sustained gunshot wounds and was arrested, with three mobile phones recovered.
A follow-up operation on Saturday morning led to the arrest of 28-year-old Abdullahi Ahmed, who also bore gunshot wounds from the previous encounter, the police said.
Operatives subsequently arrested 30-year-old Sunday Idowu, who allegedly provided logistics for the gang, and 29-year-old Muhammed Ibrahim Shina, who reportedly travelled from Ilorin, Kwara State, to participate in the crime. The two abducted children were rescued safely and reunited with their family after receiving medical attention.
Separately, the command’s Violent Crime Response Unit extended operations to Ajah, Lagos State, targeting a wanted armed robbery kingpin.
Although the suspects fled on sighting officers, a search of the hideout yielded two Russian-made JOJEFF double-barrel guns, one Magnum pump-action rifle, one English-made revolver pistol and 36 live cartridges, Ayanlade stated.
The police spokesman said all four suspects were assisting investigators and that prosecution would follow the conclusion of investigations. He urged the public to report suspicious activities via the emergency toll-free line, 615.
In Jos, the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, debunked social media reports of a security breach on its premises following gunshots heard in the vicinity late Sunday night. A statement by the Head of Public Affairs, Dr Osime Samuel, said no breach of the institute’s security perimeter occurred and that all staff, participants and facilities remained safe. The institute said it was working with relevant security agencies and urged the public to disregard unverified reports.
