TheCable

The Kaduna government says troops have killed two bandits, following a raid on a hideout in Kachia LGA of the state.

Samuel Aruwan, the state’s commissioner for internal security on Thursday, said the bandits were killed in a location several kilometres away from the Kaduna-Abuja highway.

He said troops of operation Whirl Punch had engaged the bandits in the area.

“According to operational feedback, troops, acting on credible intelligence, carried out aggressive fighting patrols to Abasiya-Amale area, located east of Polewire, in Kachia LGA, where they engaged the bandits,” he said.

“In the fierce battle, the troops overpowered the bandits and subsequently destroyed their hideouts.”

The commissioner said the troops, as part of the campaign to take the fight to the doorstep of the bandits, engaged the terrorists in a gun battle and recovered two corpses.

He said some of the bandits fled the location with several injuries.

According to him, one AK-47, two magazines carrying 38 rounds of ammunition and one cell phone were recovered from the criminals.

He warned citizens against assisting any suspicious person with injuries.

“To this end, locals are warned to refrain from rendering any assistance to questionable elements, and should instead report such matters to the following numbers: 09034000060, 08170189999,” the commissioner said.

In another development, troops of operation Forest Sanity repelled an attack by bandits around Dende-Buruku Junction along the Damba-Dende-Buruku Road, Chikun LGA.

The commissioner said the troops engaged the bandits in a gunfight in Rafin Kaura area.

The bandits, he said, fled from the advancing troops, who then rescued two victims who had been kidnapped

“The rescued victims have been linked up with vehicles conveying them to their original destinations. The troops subsequently cleared the bandit camps in the general area,” he said.

He further said that Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, commended the officers and men of the armed forces and other agencies under the leadership of Taoreed Lagbaja, the general officer commanding (GOC), for sustaining the fight against bandits and terrorists in the state.