Troops of 17 Brigade Nigerian Army, NA, in conjunction with personnel of the Nigeria Police Force have averted a planned attack by armed bandits on Magama Central Mosque in Jibia LGA of Katsina State where several locals had gone to observe the late night Ramadan prayers.
According to a statement issued today by the Army’s Public Relations Director, Brig-Gen Mohammed Yerima, the incident, which occurred in the early hours of 10 May, witnessed a large number of bandits who came firing sporadically in an attempt to distrupt the prayers and abduct innocent worshippers.
However, the bandits were met with overwhelming firepower from a combined team of troops and personnel who were tactically deployed in the town following earlier Intelligence received on the planned attack.
The resistance with which the bandits were faced, and the maintained vigilance of the troops to forestall further attacks on the mosque, forced the bandits to withdraw in disarray, but led them to raid a local mosque at the outskirts of Jibia town, where they kidnapped some persons.
The combined team, on getting wind of this, mounted a pursuit on the bandits, forcing them to abandon most of the hostages while fleeing with an unknown number.
While the rescued victims have since been reunited with their families, further efforts, in collaboration with neighbouring military establishments including those of Niger Republic, are ongoing to rescue the others.
The Army, according to the statement, reiterated that the situation in Jibia is under control as reinforcements have since arrived the area in order to facilitate the rescue efforts.
The local inhabitants are advised to go ahead with their normal business and report any suspicious activity to the security agency nearest to them.
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