About 20 residents of Dawaki, a community near Kubwa in the Federal Capital Territory, have been kidnapped.
The attackers were said to have raided houses on Frank Opara Street before security operatives responded to distress calls.
The Chairman of Dawaki Rock Heaven Community, Tunde Abdulrahim, who spoke to newsmen on Monday, said the incident happened at about 7.30pm on Sunday.
Abdulrahim said the armed men, numbering about 50, invaded the community and broke into about six houses.
Commenting on the attack, the FCT police spokesperson, SP Josephine Adeh, said in a statement on Monday that the Commissioner of Police, Benneth Igweh, led policemen to the scene and engaged the kidnappers in a gun battle.
The statement read, “In an immediate and strategic response to a distress call on the attack by unknown gunmen in Dawaki on May 19, 2024, at about 11.30pm, the operatives of the FCT Police Command, led by the Commissioner of Police, CP Igweh, himself, swiftly mobilised to the scene.
“Displaying remarkable bravery and coordination, the police, in synergy with local hunters, advanced on the assailants, tactically ambushing them at Ushafa Hill via Bwari and Shishipe Hills via Mpape.
This led to a fierce gun duel as the hoodlums were overwhelmed by the firepower of the operatives, forcing them to scamper to safety with various degrees of bullet injuries, and the victims were rescued.
“While one of the rescued victims is still in the hospital receiving medical attention, the Commissioner of Police, FCT, reaffirms the command’s steadfast dedication to maintaining peace and security in the territory, as search operations are ongoing to rescue other hostages who fled the scene during the shootout.”
Some bandits in the early hours of Sunday abducted five people from Shagari Quarters, Dei-Dei, in the FCT.
Vigilante sources in the community confirmed that the attackers arrived in the area around noon and went straight to the compound of a senior customs officer, where they picked up his wife, three of his children, and a younger brother.
“They spent more than two hours before proceeding to the neighbouring Dakwa community. The man used to work in Abuja with the police Rapid Response Squad (RRS), always parking around his house. But they are no longer around following his deployment to Lagos, though his family is still living in the compound,” the source added.
An attempt by the bandits to attack some houses in Dakwa town was said to have been unsuccessful, following a fierce fire exchange with security men there, which forced them to withdraw, according to the Chief of Dakwa, Dr Alhassan Musa Babachukuri.
The traditional ruler lamented that the bandits have created a base behind Zuma Rock in the Chachi community near Dakawa in neighbouring Niger State, which leads to some forests around Bwari.