Troops rescue kidnap victim, arrest suspects, recover rustled livestock in Katsina

Abdullateef Fowewe

Troops of Sector 2, Joint Task Force North West, Operation FANSAN YAMMA (JTF NW OPFY), have recorded significant operational successes in Katsina State.

The force’s Media Information Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Aliyu Danja, said this in a statement on Tuesday.

Danja said the first operation occurred in the early hours of 26 July when troops, working with the Katsina State Community Watch Corps, responded to a distress call about terrorist activity in Karkata Village, Charanchi Local Government Area.

While advancing to the scene, he said, “the troops made contact with the terrorists and engaged them with superior firepower, forcing the criminals to abandon their kidnapped victim before fleeing into the surrounding bushes.”

The victim was rescued unharmed and reunited with her family.

In a separate coordinated raid on the same day, Sector 2 personnel, alongside officers from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), carried out operations at Wagin, Tundu Mobi and Chadawaki in Batsari Local Government Area.

The raids led to the arrest of suspects and the recovery of “a locally fabricated weapon with five cartridges, among other exhibits,” Danja said.

The suspects and recovered items have been handed over to the NDLEA for further investigation.

Also on 26 July, acting on credible intelligence, troops laid an ambush along a suspected terrorists’ crossing point at Yankwani Village, Bakori Local Government Area, where they engaged suspects attempting to move rustled livestock.

Under sustained pressure, the assailants fled and abandoned 126 animals — “83 cows and 43 sheeps,” the statement noted.

The recovered livestock were handed over to the Chairman of the Peace Keeping Committee, Bakori, in the presence of local government officials for identification and return to their rightful owners.

The Theatre Commander, Joint Task Force North West, Operation FANSAN YAMMA, “commends the gallantry and vigilance of the troops behind these successes and reassures the good people of Katsina State and the North West of the Command’s unwavering resolve to sustain offensive operations against terrorists in the region,” the statement added.