There was pandemonium in Rigasa community in Kaduna, yesterday, when gunmen stormed the area and abducted a nursing mother and three other women.
The incident occurred around 1:48am on Wednesday, according to the families of the victims.
The husband of the nursing mother, Ibrahim Abdullahi, told journalists that he was at home when his children alerted him that some people were knocking at his gate.
“I was sleeping when my children rushed into my room to tell me that there were people at the gate. So I heard them (kidnappers) asking us to open the door. After I escaped from the house I heard they took away my wife and left the infant in the room.
“So I started crying because the infant is now with our neighbour I don’t even know what to do,” he said.
A witness, Fatima Ibrahim, also in tears explained how she escaped from the kidnappers.
“We were inside when they came in and ordered me to follow them. I did as they ordered and we came out of the house they asked if I had money on me I said no so one of them slapped me.
“I was pleading with them to let me go that was when the police arrived and they started exchanging gunfire, so I ran back into the compound,” she said.
Our reporter learnt that the three other young girls were abducted from other houses before the arrival of the police and the Civilian Joint Taskforce (Civilian JTF).
The Civilian JTF Commander, Aminu Sani, who joined the policemen in engaging the kidnappers in the gun battle, said the criminals were about 30 in number. He also said they tried to arrest them but they escaped.
The village head of Rigasa community, Alhaji Aminu Alhassan, who confirmed the incident, commended the police and JTF for responding to the distress call, which he said helped chase the kidnappers away.
Kaduna State Police Command spokesman, DSP Yakubu Sabo confirmed the incident but said only one woman was abducted.
He also said the police that responded to the distress call helped rescued other residents from the kidnappers after engaging the attackers in a shootout.
“Only one woman was missing from the information we have and we are working on how to trace the attackers to bring them to face the law,” he said.
