Airport official gunned down by bandits

Shehu NaAllah, a security official attached to the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), was shot dead when bandits struck on Saturday afternoon.

Daily Trust had reported how the gunmen exchanged fire with soldiers around the airport, delaying a Lagos-bound flight.

• JUST IN: Explosion rocks Kaduna community
• Flights on hold as bandits exchange gunfire with soldiers around Kaduna airport

Security operatives had prevented a possible invasion of the airport by the gunmen.

Commenting on the attack, a source told Daily Trust, “One of the airport local staff working under NAMA was killed by the bandits but the aircraft was not affected because there was no invasion of the airport.”

Sources at the airport confirmed to our correspondent that a Lagos-bound Azman flight was about taxiing for take-off when the airport manager reportedly informed the control tower to delay the flight because of the gun duel.

The sources, however, said the incident did not happen within the vicinity of the airport.

It was also learnt that soldiers had on Friday engaged bandits in a shootout,  recovering several cows that were rustled.

The source said the bandits regrouped on Saturday to launch a counter-attack but they were subdued.

One of the sources said, “Around 1pm when the Azman flight was ready to depart Kaduna, the information we gathered was that security forces were in a fierce gun duel with bandits inside the bush.”

He said, “We were boarding when the airport manager asked the control tower to please delay releasing us because there was an incident between soldiers and the bandits but not at the vicinity of the airport at all.

“All I know is that the control tower asked the airlines to halt boarding for a while because inside the bush, there were gunshots as the soldiers were dealing with the bandits.”

As of the time of filing this report, the Azman aircraft had already landed in Lagos.

The Airports Authorities are yet to speak on the incident as the acting spokesperson of FAAN, Mrs. Faithful Hope-Ivbaze, who was contacted, did not respond.