Suspected bandits on Wednesday night attacked Mpape in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), killing a security guard and abducting three people, including a pastor.
Mpape is just a few minutes from Abuja’s upscale Maitama district and is also close to a military barracks.
The attackers, said to be about 10 in number, reportedly arrived shortly before 11pm. They headed to a new area known as Yellow House, where they targeted a particular house.
“They didn’t succeed in breaking into the home when a police patrol team that had been alerted about the incident, arrived. They withdrew immediately just as they were exchanging gun shots with the security men to beat a retreat”, one of the sources narrated.
The source said the attackers later met a pastor who was returning home and kidnapped him.
“They succeeded in abducting him from his own car, and also kidnapped two other residents along the road as they were fleeing the area. A car belonging to the pastor was later traced by the security men that was left behind along a road within the neighborhood”, said the source.
It was also gathered that another resident was shot in the leg during the attack. Police later took the victim to the hospital for treatment.
Daily Trust learnt that gunshots continued to ring out around the community until about 2am.
Attempts to get a response from the spokesperson of the FCT Police Command, SP Josephine Adeh, were unsuccessful as she did not answer phone calls or reply to a WhatsApp message sent to her.
