•Terrorists
Despite threat by bandits to kill the 286 students and staff of Government Secondary School and LEA Primary School, Kuriga, Kaduna State kidnapped recently, the Defence Headquarters, yesterday vowed to rescue them unhurt.
The terrorists have also demanded a total of N1 billion ($620,432) for their release, reports Daily Independent.
According to Reuters, a community leader, Jubril Aminu, who acts as a spokesman for the families of the hostages, said he received a call on his phone from the kidnappers on Tuesday.
“They made a total of a N1 billion ransom demand for all the pupils, students and staff of the school,” Aminu said.
“They gave an ultimatum to pay the ransom within 20 days, effective from they will kill all the students and the staff if the ransom demand is not met.” the date of the kidnap. They said
However, the Defence Headquarters has vowed to rescue the abducted pupils and teachers despite the threat.
Briefing newsmen yesterday in Abuja, on the activities of the Armed Forces in the last two weeks, Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, reiterated the Force’s commitment to rescuing all kidnapped victims unhurt.
Admitting difficult terrain, Buba said the hostages are being held in locations that are difficult to get to.
He also said it took more than six hours after they were abducted for the information to get to security agencies before machinery was commenced for the rescue efforts.
“As in every war, there are complexities and ours is no exception. Recently, cases of citizens being abducted in the North East, North West and North Central theatres of operations were recorded.
“These citizens were abducted by a brutal and blood-tasty group that should only be addressed as terrorists, not bandits. I repeat these are terrorists and not bandits.
“They are holding these citizens against their will and all norms of human behaviour, and against the laws of armed conflict and any good measure in the world.
“Several of their leaders and commanders have been neutralised as a result of troops’ onslaught. They want to use these hostages as human shields for their survival. Nevertheless, be assured that we will not rest until the hostages are returned. No doubt, this is a difficult situation, but not one that is insurmountable.
“The hostage situation is an extremely sensitive one which, unfortunately, is not unprecedented in the history of the ongoing war. These hostages are being held in locations that are difficult to get to, but not out of reach. The situation is, however, indicative of the desperation of these terrorists to avoid troops’ onslaught by all means.
“Recall that in recent times troops have decimated several of the terrorists’ leaders, commanders and foot soldiers and fast closing in on several others. These terrorists have exhibited cowardice by going for such soft targets to impede troops’ advances. I assure you that we will not rest until they are returned.
“Given the hostage situation, it can be deduced that the search and rescue effort was grossly affected by the non-timely notification of troops of the incident. Nevertheless, I can assure you that we will not rest until these hostages are returned.
“However, because of the sensitivity of the matter, I cannot go into further details as to signs of life, location, and the different options that we have in order to get these hostages back.
“Let me further assure that getting these hostages back is very clearly at the top of our priorities. It is for this reason we have leveraged our international partners for support.
“Accordingly, they are providing the necessary support, including intelligence, that is giving us the advantage in dealing with the ugly situation,” he said.
