From Gyang Bere, Jos
Four students of Capro Mission Secondary Gana Ropp in Barkin-Ladi, Plateau State, were kidnapped Thursday morning by suspected bandits.
The bandits invaded the school in the early hours of Thursday, reports say, a few kilometers from Yakubu Gowon International Airport, and kidnapped four students.
Three of the students were, however, rescued after the quick intervention of Operation Safe Haven operatives who engaged the gunmen in a firefight.
President of Para-Mallam Peace Foundation Reverend Gideon Para-Mallam, confirmed the attack, and said the attackers broke the rear fence of the school to gain entrance into its premises.
He stated that the intervention of security agencies prevented what could have been another mass abduction as the assailants took to their heels upon realising there was security reinforcement in the area.
An eyewitness said the bandits stormed the school in the early hours of Thursday when the students were asleep.
He said the students noticed strange movements around the school premises and quickly alerted the security agents who responded swiftly, forcing the attackers to flee with 2 students.
The source said one out of the two abducted students later escaped during the gunfight between the agents and the abductors.
Efforts to obtain comment from the school’s management about the incident was unsuccessful, the state’s police spokesman ASP Gabriel Ubah also declining to respond to calls for comment.
It was learnt that community leaders in Barakin-Ladi are meeting to investigate the attack.