Vigilante group and police Saturday night engaged some terrorists in a gun duel and rescued some Islamic school students abducted in Mahuta community of Dandume Local Government area of Katsina State, Northwest Nigeria.
HumAngle had reported that some armed men on Saturday night, intercepted Islamic school children returning from a Maulud Nabiyyi (Prophet Mohammad’s birthday) celebration in Unguwar Al-Kasim and kidnapped an undisclosed number of them in Mahuta B Ward.
The ward is located in the Dandume Local Government Area of Katsina State, northwest Nigeria. Sources from the community told HumAngle that the number of abducted children were ascertained during the incident that started at about 11:30 pm in Baure village.
However, this newspaper learnt that the Islamic students numbering about 80 and 12 cattle that also rustled during the attack were rescued after a gun battle between the terrorists and a team comprising a vigilante group and the police.
Isah Gambo, Katsina State Police Command Spokesperson, who confirmed the abduction said “A distress call was received by DPO in Dandume, that some Islamiyyah students of Hizburrahim Islamiyya, Mahuta village, Dandume LGA of Katsina state, numbering about 80 were abducted”.
Gambo revealed that the DPO in charge of Funtua, whose name he didn’t mention, led operation Puff Adder, Sharan Daji, and Vigilante group in the area and engaged the bandits in a fierce gun duel before they escaped into the forest.
He continued that, “the team succeeded in dislodging the bandits and rescued all the 84 kidnapped victims and recovered all the 12 rustled cows”.
Search parties are still combing the area with a view to arresting the injured bandits and/or recovery of their dead bodies. Investigation is ongoing, Gambo added.
Sources available to HumAngle revealed that the group had already kidnapped four people including women and rustled 12 cows in Dan Baure village in Funtua Local Government before they abducted the Islamic school students.
Shehu Abdullahi Dan Sarki, a resident of Dan Baure and a husband of one of the kidnapped women lamented disclosed “ the group stormed our village around 8 pm shooting everywhere searching from house to house”.
“They kidnapped my wife and rustled several cows,” Dan Sarki said, adding, “They wanted to kidnap my second wife but later changed their mind because of her health condition and abducted the first one”.
His wife and three other persons were already rescued and reunited with their families, he said.
Hauwa Shehu who is one of the victims kidnapped in Dan Baure said: “ the group pointed a gun on my forehead and asked me to follow them”.
“We trekked for more than three hours before vigilante group intercepted them and rescued us,” she added.
The group, Hauwa Shehu said, had an informant telling them on how to carry out the abduction in Mahuta.
“They were calling some people asking them where they were supposed to follow to kidnap the children,” she stated.
Kabiru Aliyu is another resident of Dan Baure who witnessed the arrival of the terrorists.
He said that “ they trekked normally like people coming back from the market, immediately they reached our village square, they started shooting guns everywhere terrorizing people”.
“We all ran into the forest. left our wives and children,” Aliyu said.
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