News
Bandits Attack Kaduna International Airport, Kill NAMA Security Officers
On Saturday afternoon, a group of approximately 200 bandits took over the Kaduna International Airport’s runway, killing security personnel from the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
According to reports, the bandits prompted the agency to briefly halt operations at the airport while the military fought the attackers.
According to a witness, the bandits blocked a Lagos-bound airplane from taking off at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
‘The bandit attack began around 12:00 a.m. today,’ according to a source who requested anonymity (Saturday). Around midnight, they began attacking the airport. The bandits claimed that military soldiers had stolen their animals.
‘The military was able to repel them that midnight and we thought that was all. In fact, our staff resumed work this morning as usual. They worked around runway five till around 12:00 pm.
‘Then, shortly after that, some NAMA staff went to check some of their equipment, then these people (bandits) appeared and started shooting. The NAMA engineers scampered for safety, they could not even go and enter the vehicle that should take them to the site. It was in the process that their security man was shot in the head.
‘The security man was rushed to the hospital and he was confirmed dead.
As I am talking to you now, the military are still battling those guys, and they are proving difficult to be repelled. Now, they had shut down the airport.’
As extra military forces were brought to the site on a clearance operation with an Armoured Personnel Carrier, many of the employees reportedly fled the airport.
The Public Relations Officer of the Kaduna State Police Command, ASP Muhammad Jalige, as well as the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, did not respond to calls from our correspondent seeking comment on the incident at the time of this report.
