Men of the Joint Security Task Force have killed 20 bandits and rescued five kidnap victims during a clearance operation in Gaskiya Bana, a border village between Niger and Kaduna States in Munya local government of Niger State.
The kidnapped victims were said to have
been in the custody of the bandits for over one month.
The bandits were said to be working for a
notorious bandits Kingpin Alhaji Leyi who has his operational base at Gaskiya
Bana in Munya local government area.
The operation lasted for about five hours.
Niger Commissioner for Internal Security
and Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. Emmanuel Umar confirmed the incident.
He said saying the taskforce invaded the
terrorist hideout who abandoned their victims and loot.
According to Umar, the TaskF orce ran into
an ambush by the terrorists at Unguwan Aboki but were able to repelled them as
scores were neutralised and others forced to retreat.
The Commissioner identified the rescued
victims as Yakubu Abuba, Susan Sunday, Patience Sunday, Lazarus John and Bulus
Yahaya adding that they were all abducted from Chukun village in Kaduna State
about a month ago.
“All the victims have been debriefed and
since reunited with their families after medical examination,” he said.
He commended the efforts of the security
agencies and other stakeholders in mitigating the spate of terrorists’
activities in the State.