Troops of One Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army have killed four suspected insurgents during a routine operation in the Birnin-Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
In a statement by its spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Musa Yahaya, during a fighting patrol in Birnin-Gwari on Tuesday, the troops engaged the insurgents in a gun battle resulting in four of the criminal elements being neutralized and others escaped with gunshot wounds.
He said that the troops during the operation recovered three AK-47 rifles, seven AK-47 rifle magazines and two motorcycles from the insurgents.
Similarly, troops of the One Division deployed to Birnin Gwari rescued 11 kidnapped victims including a nine-month-old baby at Kwaga village during an encounter with bandits.
The division’s spokesman explained that the victims were rescued on Wednesday, February 7th, after the troops successfully overpowered the bandits, who absconded into the forest in disarray abandoning their victims.
The army gave the names of the rescued hostages as Zakari Galadima, Ishaku Galadima, Habibu Illaysu, Nuzuli Ibrahim, Ramatu Aliyu, Ubaida Mubarak. Others are Zaliha Mubarak, Umma Haruna, Khairatu Salisu, Rahamatu Usman and Rakiyia Yahaya.
According to him, the victims were kidnapped on Tuesday, February 6th from their village at Masuku in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.
Meanwhile, the General Officer Commanding the One Mechanised Division and Force Commander Operation Whirl Punch, Major General Valentine Okoro, has commended the troops for their success.
He also appealed to the public to continue to provide troops and other security agencies with real-time intelligence and also report persons with gunshot wounds seeking paramedics’ attention to the troops or other security agencies.
