Breaking: Military officer’s wife, 6 others feared kidnapped in Kaduna

Terrorists in the late hours of Tuesday night attacked Keke ‘A’ and Keke ‘B’ areas of New Millennium City, Chikun local government area of Kaduna state kidnapping the wife of a military officer and six other residents of the communities.   

Blueprint learnt that the attack started around 11pm and lasted for an hour before security operatives could come to their rescue as the gunmen shooting sporadically ransack the villages seeking victims to kidnap.

A resident of the area, who does not want her name in print, said three persons were kidnapped by the bandits at Keke ‘A’. The source who is a primary school teacher, said the bandits may have targeted a big house at Keke A in their operation.

According to her, “the bandits came around 11pm. I think their main target was a house at Keke A. The house belongs to a military officer. But as the time of the attack, the officer was not at home. So, the kidnappers broke into the house and picked his (military officer’s) wife.

“They also kidnapped another man who is the immediate neighbour of the military officer. In fact, the neighbour was picked alongside his eight-year old daughter, but they eventually dropped the daughter when her mother was shouting on top of her voice.

“I think it was at that point when she started shouting loudly that they started shooting sporadically to scare away people who might think of coming to their aid. While all that was happening, another man who was just returning home in his car at that time ran into the kidnappers. He was the third person that was taken away.” 

She also said that, many people who were still outside of their houses including shops operators scampered to safety when the bandits started shooting.
“As at this morning, we saw many shoes on the ground and we became scared that, those must be the shoes of the people kidnapped. But, one of the people who escaped the attack told us the shoes belong to those who ran away,” she said.

A resident of Keke ‘B’, told our Correspondent that, he returned home  less than 10 minutes and was taking his shower when he started hearing gunshots. He however said that a man, his wife and their two housegirls were kidnapped in Keke ‘B’.

“I was so terrified when I heard the sound of gunshot. I got out of the bathroom abruptly and switched off all the lights inside my house. The gunshots were so close, it was like the bandits were inside my compound. I later discovered that, one man, his wife and their two housegirls were kidnapped,” the resident said.

Meanwhile the Kaduna State Police Command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Muhammad Jalige, has yet to react to the incident as at the time of going to press.