Pastor, four others killed in fresh Plateau attack

By : Odita Sunday (Abuja) and Isa Abdulsalami Ahovi (Jos)

Date: 8 August 2023 5:04am WAT

Residents leave the Kukawa village in the Kanam Local Government Area of the Plateau state on April 12, 2022 after their houses were burnt down during an attack by bandits. - President Muhammadu Buhari vowed on April 12, 2022 there would be no mercy for those behind the killings of more than a hundred people in a series of attacks in central Nigeria. Gunmen raided and ransacked a group of villages there, local sources said, in one of worst attacks this year blamed on heavily armed criminal gangs. Condemning what he called the "heinous" killings, Buhari promised that the perpetrators would receive "no mercy". (Photo by AFP)

NAF special forces rescue kidnap victims in Kaduna
Five persons, including a pastor, were reportedly killed in Nchya village, Mangu Local Council, Plateau State, yesterday.

A local confirmed that Nchya people evacuated the remains of the victims in a pick-up van to Mangu town, which the source said led to ‘enough is enough’ mass protest in the town.

Nchya village is less than three kilometres away from Mangu town. Among the victims is a pastor with the Church of Christ in Nation (COCiN), Jos, according to the source.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Plateau, Alfred Alabo, said he had not been given details of the attack, adding that he was going to contact the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the area to find out what really happened.

Two people were initially killed in Angware by kidnappers on July 29, 2023 but five bodies were later discovered on the outskirts of Barkin Ladi Local Council. The two were Agada Ambo of Zangam village in Maigemu District, Jos East, who went to pay ransom for the release of one Luka Izang that was kidnapped two weeks earlier, and one Azi from Kayarda in the same Maigemu.

While the third person was able to escape, Agada and Azi were not that lucky, The Guardian gathered.

“Azi and Agada, though from different villages, were buried in the same grave in Zangam as agreed by their relatives,” a family source disclosed.

MEANWHILE, Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Special Forces on patrol, Sunday night, near Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State, rescued six women and a man that were kidnapped earlier.

The women, on interrogation, revealed that they were kidnapped from Paikoro in Niger State, while the man stated that he was picked up against his will from Rijau in Niger.

NAF spokesman, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, said: “On sighting the troops, the terrorists abandoned their victims and fled into a nearby forest. The victims were subsequently taken to NAF Medical facility at Birnin Gwari for review and subsequently released. However, the man is still being observed.

“Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, commended the effort of the troops, while calling for intensified efforts towards ensuring that all areas within Kaduna and environs are free of terrorists, kidnappers and other criminal elements.”