Some gunmen suspected to be bandits have abducted at least 20 people in Dawaki community in Abuja.
According to Daily Trust, the gunmen armed with various types of weapons, stormed Dawaki around 7:30 pm on Sunday and operated until about 8:30 pm.
Dawaki is home to thousands of workers in the FCT, situated along the Abuja-Kubwa Expressway, directly across from Gwarinpa Estate, Nigeria’s largest single organized settlement.
The incident comes shortly after kidnappers attacked Shagari Quarters in Dei-Dei, approximately five kilometers away on the same Abuja-Kubwa Expressway, and abducted a Customs officer’s family.
A Dawaki resident, Hosea Christopher, told the newspaper that bandits abducted 17 people from three houses and a street near Fulani Junction, but five escaped while being taken to a mountain on the outskirts, and the bandits were later confronted by DSS operatives near the Usuma Dam forest.
“They immediately opened fire on the security men, but there was corresponding response. Despite the fierce offensive by the DSS operatives, the bandits were able to escape,” he said.
A resident who escaped abduction, Abel James, also said, “The attackers wore uniforms and had face masks.
“But I doubted their genuineness when they started shooting sporadically. As they moved towards the community, I headed into a house under construction and climbed upstairs from where I kept looking at their operation, with gunshots as they were leaving towards the hill.
“We later learnt that two of the gunmen were captured by the security men that included DSS and soldiers who joined them later around the Usuma Dam, where the fire exchange took place.”
