Locals in Kagarko LGA’s Gidna and Gidan-Dogo villages have said they will never forget the day bandits attacked their communities and abducted many villagers.
The two villages are located near the Idah community, off the Bwari-Jere highway.
According to them, the incident occurred a few weeks ago when people from all over came to Gidan-Dogo for a burial.
A resident of Gidan-Dogo, who requested anonymity due to the area’s security situation, stated that the bandits attacked the mourners in broad daylight.
He said, “They came in their large numbers when the village was full of visitors who came for the burial ceremony. The mourners had cooked tuwo (fufu), rice and other kinds of food. The bandits seized these foods and drinks, ate some there and went away with the rest.”
He claimed that the bandits fled with about 40 villagers, many of whom were women and visitors.
According to a relative of one of the victims, the incident forced many of the villagers to flee their homes for fear of further attacks.
She stated that about 25 of the victims were freed a few days after the attack, but that some of them died later as a result of what they went through in the bush.
At least 12 of the victims, she claims, are still with the bandits.
Following the recent attack on some soldiers in the FCT’s Bwari Area Council, City & Crime learned that the military raided bandits’ camps in Kawu and Ido, close to the two communities.
A villager told our City Editor that the military raided their camp two weeks ago with a helicopter, killing some of them and escaping with the kidnapped victims.
Maj Gen Bernard Onyeuko, Director, Defence Media Operations, recently confirmed that troops successfully cleared Kawu and Ido villages, neutralising the terrorists and destroying their enclave and hideout.
Gen Onyeuko, speaking at the bi-weekly news conference on military operations, said troops also killed 30 terrorists who recently attacked soldiers in Bwari.
According to a timber contractor who works near the villages, locals discovered the bodies of a man in military uniform and a man in civil dress a few days ago.
