Gunmen Besiege Abuja Community And Abduct 30 Residents

A Federal Capital Territory community, Tunga Maji was under siege in the early hours of Friday as gunmen abducted over 30 residents.

A resident, Ezekiel Denzi, told The Guardian that the gunmen kidnapped the persons after a prolonged gun battle with the community vigilante members on Friday morning.

Another resident, Mrs. Pius Bala, said the shooting started about 1a.m. and lasted more than an hour before the local security was overpowered.

Bala said: “It is very unfortunate that such an incident is happening in this hard period. We could not sleep throughout the night. It is this morning that the vigilantes told us about 20 people that were abducted.

“We heard last week that the authorities were informed of the entrance of Boko Haram members into Abuja and environs, but nobody took the report seriously. We appeal to government for help before all of us are killed.”

The FCT Police command confirmed the report that it received a distress call on kidnap of some people about 0130hrs yesterday in Tungan Maje, a village bordering FCT and Niger State, a joint team of policemen from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Rapid Response Squad (RRS) and Zuba Police Division responded swiftly to the occasion.

A statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), FCT Command, DSP Anjuhuri Manzah, said that during a fierce gun confrontation with the heavily armed hoodlums, the police team successfully rescued five of the victims.

He added that there were efforts to rescue the remaining victims from the hoodlums who escaped into Niger through a nearby rocky forest.

The command reassured members of the public of its commitment to proactive crime-fighting in the FCT.