Gunmen Kill Military, Police Personnel, Others, along Kaduna-Abuja Road

An unspecified number of people, including policemen and military personnel were reportedly killed on Sunday along the dreaded Kaduna-Abuja road by dare devil bandits.

The bandits were also said to have robbed and abducted several other people during the incident which occurred near Gidan Busa village on the highway.

An eyewitness said the incident took place at about 7:00 pm and lasted for about an hour as the gunmen blocked the road and operated freely.Also killed were the daughter of an army officer and Prof. Sadiya Akilu Idris of the University of Abuja.
Several others, including the orderly of the army officer, were said to have sustained injuries from gunshots as the hoodlums unleashed terror on motorists and travellers.

kaduna-abuja expressway

The witness, who pleaded anonymity, was however not specific about the number of those killed, but said several people might have been killed as the gunmen were shooting indiscriminately at people while others were abducted as they moved from vehicle to vehicle.
He said the bandits, who were about 10, had with them sophisticated weapons.

It was learnt that when the policemen at one of the checkpoints on the highway were alerted about the operation, they didn’t go as they had to wait for reinforcement before confronting the bandits.

The gunmen struck when security along the highway seemed to have improved.

Many people travelling to and from Kaduna have long abandoned the road for train services shuttling from Abuja to Kaduna due to the high rate of kidnapping and armed robbery.

Austin Iwar, the Kaduna State Police Commissioner, and Aliyu Mukhtar, the state command’s spokesman, could not be reached as several telephone calls and text messages sent to them for their reaction on the incident were not answered.