Residents of Abuja were yesterday thrown into panic after some suspected terrorists injured three soldiers attached to the Guards Brigade at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The troops were on routine patrol on Kubwa-Bwari Road. The attack came barely 24 hours after the terrorists that claimed responsibility for the March 28 attack on passengers aboard a Kaduna-bound train threatened to abduct President Muhammadu Buhari and Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai.

Forty-three of the 63 passengers taken into custody by the insurgents are still being held in the forests by their abductors, who have issued a fresh threat to kill some and sell off others.

But yesterday, the negotiator who recently facilitated the release of 11 victims, Malam Tukur Mamu, announced the release of four more hostages.

Tukur, who said he did not know if the relatives paid ransom to the insurgents, gave the names of the freed hostages as Gladys Brumen, Oluwatoyin Ojo, Hassan Lawal and Pastor Ayodeji Oyewumi

Yesterday’s attack forced Education Minister Mallam Adamu Adamu and the FCT Education Secretariat to take preventive actions.

The minister directed the immediate closure of the Federal Government College (FGC), Kwali, and security beef-up around all unity schools.

Also in a statement, the FCT Secretariat directed that the academic session must end tomorrow.

It called on parents and guardians to pick up their children and wards.

Military sources said there were intelligence reports that the terrorists were laying siege on the FCT intending to attack a higher institution and other government facilities in Bwari.

The sources said detectives were on the trail of the assailants.The FCT Police Command also said: “There is no cause for alarm.”

A source said the troops of 7 Guards Battalion on routine patrol along Kubwa – Bwari road were ambushed by suspected terrorists.

He added that three soldiers injured during the attack were evacuated to the hospital for medical attention.

“The ambush happening within the general area of Bwari shows that the terrorists are actually within the location and possibly to carry out their plans of attacking the Law School in Bwari as earlier reported,” the source said.

Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, Guards Brigade, Captain Godfrey Abakpa, confirmed that soldiers were attacked by suspected terrorists.

He added that the injured soldiers were receiving treatment.

Residents of Abuja in Panic over attack on soldiers by terrorists

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