Bandits storm Kaduna Airport, open fire on aviation workers, passengers, kill NAMA staff

Armed bandits on Saturday afternoon breached the security at the International Airport in Kaduna, leaving an aviation security guard killed after opening fire on workers and passengers.

A witness told Newsflash Nigeria the incident occurred shortly after noon when the attackers scaled the airport barriers and caused widespread panic across the facility.

“We’ve identified a security worker that was killed as Shehu Na’Allah,” our source said under anonymity because they didn’t have authority to do press interviews about the incident.

“We have everything under control now but many people were wounded and some flights were unable to depart.”

The manager of the Airport, Mrs Amina Salami confirmed the incident, said that the bandits invaded the airport through the perimeter fence from a nearby forest at about 1 pm on Saturday, and started shooting sporadically to scare the workers.

She further explained that a security guard with the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) who was patrolling around the runway was shot to death by the bandits.

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The airport manager also disclosed that the sound of gunshot attracted the attention of armed security operatives who arrived at the scene and were able to repel the bandits from gaining access into the main airport complex.

The attack also delayed a scheduled Lagos-bound aircraft from taking off from the Kaduna airport, while armed operatives of the Nigerian Airforce and other military personnel have taken over the innards and outer areas of the airport to fish out the bandits.

This comes a few days after 50 persons were killed while an unspecified number of persons were abducted when bandits attacked nine communities in the Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Today’s attack marked the second time armed attackers would scale perimeter fencing of the airport in order to carry out a successful attack.

Some Nigerians were abducted when bandits stormed the airport staff quarters on March 6, 2021. Some of them were rescued weeks after the incident by security forces.

Kaduna has been amongst the most affected states of the raging armed banditry in Nigeria’s northwestern region, and the crisis has barely been contained despite the huge deployment of security forces that has led to the killing of thousands of gang members along vast trenches.

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