Troops, intelligence assets deployed to rescue abducted Kaduna worshippers, says DHQ

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) says it is committed tosecuring the safe rescue of abducted residents of Kurmin Wali in Kajuru LGA ofKaduna state. According to NAN, Michael Onoja, director of defence mediaoperations, said the military had taken note of concerns raised by affectedcommunities and reaffirmed that the rescue of all kidnapped victims remains apriority. The defence spokesperson said the military, working incoordination with other security agencies, has continued intelligence-drivenoperations in Kurmin Wali and adjoining forest areas believed to harbour thekidnappers. He said the operations include ground patrols, surveillancemissions, intelligence gathering and carefully targeted actions aimed atrescuing the captives without putting their lives at risk. The military spokesman said the restraint shown during someoperations is deliberate, adding that such caution is intended to avoidunintended harm to the hostages. He said efforts are ongoing to dismantle the criminalnetworks responsible for the abductions in the area. ABDUCTION, DENIAL, ACCEPTANCEGunmen had on Sunday attacked three churches in Kurmin Wali,and whisked away about 167 worshippers. However, on Monday, the Kaduna police command dismissed thereport as falsehood from “conflict entrepreneurs” seeking to “disrupt thestate’s relative peace”. But on Tuesday, Benjamin Hundeyin, public relations officerof the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), confirmed the abduction. He said comments made by the Kaduna commissioner of policewere aimed at preventing panic while verification was ongoing — and were notintended to deny the incident. The controversy has drawn criticism from the ChristianAssociation of Nigeria (CAN) and opposition political parties.

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