One of those abducted by bandits and sebsequently rescued by security agencies in Dandume Local Government Area of Katsina State on Sunday has narrated how they were kidnapped.
Auwal Salihu, a teacher, said 84 students and 3 teachers were ambushed by the gunmen on Saturday night.
According to him, they were on their way back from maulud celebrations held at a village called Un guwar AlKasim when the attackers flashed lights at them and surrounded them with guns.
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He said: “We were coming back when, of a sudden, the attackers flashed searchlights at us and surrounded us with guns.
“I told the students to disperse and this gave some of us the opportunity to hide.
“But because I was wearing dark clothes the attackers mistook me for one of their own. I held two students and we laid face down. Only few of the students had scratches on their bodies.”
Salihu thanked Allah the Almighty and security agencies, especially the army, police and vigilantes, for their timely response that led to their rescue.
He added: “All of the 84 students and 3 of us teachers have been rescued unhurt.”
Early Sunday police in Katsina State said they had rescued the abducted Islamiyya students after a gun duel with the abductors.
A statement issued by the spokesman of the Katsina police command, SP, Gambo Isah, said that the command received a distress call at about 10pm Saturday that some students of Hizburrahim Islamiyya, Mahuta had been abducted.
Upon receipt of the report, the DPO led operations Puff Adder, Sharan Daji and a Vigilante group to the area and engaged the bandits into a fierce gun duel.
The statement reads in parts: “Subsequently, the teams succeeded in dislodging the bandits and rescued all the 84 kidnapped victims and recovered all the twelves rustled cows.
Daily Trust reports that at least 80 students of an Islamiyya school in Dandume Local Government Area of Katsina State were on Saturday night abducted by gunmen.
The students were abducted on their way back from Maulud celebrations at a village called Unguwar Alkasim.
