No fewer than 16 residents have been abducted after heavily armed gunmen invaded Peze community in the Byazhi area of Kubwa, Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
According to residents, the attackers stormed the community on Tuesday night, operating between about 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., moving from house to house while attempting to force their way into homes.
A resident who spoke about the incident said the gunmen had earlier gathered in an uncompleted building opposite his residence before launching the attack.
“They actually came to my house on Tuesday. One of my neighbours was watching them from the window. They had gathered in an uncompleted building opposite my house, so they didn’t know someone was observing them,” the resident said.
He explained that the attackers knocked violently on doors and moved around houses, trying to provoke reactions from occupants.
“They started banging on my door and moving around the house, shouting to see if anyone would react. The way they operate is that once you respond, they break the window to gain entry,” he said.
According to him, the gunmen also issued threats to residents who refused to open their doors.
“They will tell you that if you don’t open the door, they will break in through the window and kill everyone inside,” the resident added.
The source said when the assailants failed to gain entry into some houses, they proceeded to other homes where they eventually abducted several residents.
“In total, they kidnapped 16 people,” he disclosed.
Among those taken were four children belonging to a pastor in the community. The resident explained that the pastor was not at home at the time of the attack.
“When I later went to the pastor’s house, he told me he had stepped out briefly. Before he could return, people started informing him that kidnappers were operating in the area,” he said.
“When he rushed back home, he discovered that four of his children had been taken, leaving only the youngest child behind,” the resident added.
The attackers also targeted the family of a local vigilante commander who had been helping the community resist criminal activities.
According to the resident, the commander had just left his home around 10 p.m. when a neighbour called to alert him that gunmen had entered a nearby house.
“He had just left his house when his neighbour called him and said the attackers had entered one of the houses nearby,” he said.
He explained that the commander immediately rushed to the location mentioned by the neighbour, unaware that the gunmen had already surrounded his own residence.
“He ran to the place they mentioned, not knowing they had already surrounded his house,” the resident stated.
The resident further disclosed that the attackers blocked the vigilante commander on the road when he attempted to return home and opened fire.
The gunmen later stormed his house and abducted his wife and her younger sister, who had reportedly come to visit the family a few days earlier.
Residents revealed that the woman had given birth less than 40 days before the incident, while the kidnappers left the newborn baby behind.
“They even ate the food she had been cooking before abducting her,” the source added.
Security operatives reportedly arrived in the area after the attackers had fled with the victims.
The kidnappers were also said to have contacted families of those abducted, demanding ransom for their release.
