From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Bandits said to number over 200 on Saturday afternoon took over the runway of the Kaduna International Airport, killing security personnel of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA).
The bandits reportedly forced the agency to temporarily shut down activities at the airport while the military battled the gunmen.
The bandits had prevented a Lagos bound flight from taking off around 12:30 pm on Saturday, according to a witness.
A source who pleaded anonymity said that ‘the bandit attack started around 12:00 am today (Saturday). They started attacking the Airport around midnight. The bandits were alleging that the military personnel took away their cattle.
‘The military was able to repel them that midnight and we thought that was all. In fact, our staff resumed work this morning as usual. They worked around runway five till around 12:00 pm.
‘Then, shortly after that, some NAMA staff went to check some of their equipment, then these people (bandits) appeared and started shooting. The NAMA engineers scampered for safety, they could not even go and enter the vehicle that should take them to the site. It was in the process that their security man was shot in the head.
‘The security man was rushed to the hospital and he was confirmed dead.
‘As I am talking to you now, the military are still battling those guys, and they are proving difficult to be repelled. Now, they had shut down the airport.’
Many of the staff reportedly fled the airport, as extra military personnel were deployed to the scene on clearance operation with an Armoured Personnel Carrier.
At the time of this report, the Kaduna State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Muhammad Jalige, as well as the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, did respond to calls by our correspondent for comment on the incident.