By Ene Mary McDickson
Editor, Frontline Daily

The rescue followed a distress call on the evening of Sunday, 21 September, reporting an attack on a commercial vehicle travelling from Kaduna to Katsina. Armed attackers had reportedly waylaid the vehicle and seized its occupants.

Troops swiftly mobilised to the scene, forcing the attackers to abandon their captives and flee into the surrounding bush.

The rescued victims comprise six female students of the Federal University, Dutsin-Ma, and a male commercial driver. All seven were rescued unhurt and have since undergone security profiling and medical evaluation ahead of reunification with their families.

The Media Information Officer of Joint Task Force Northwest, Lieutenant Colonel Aliyu Danja, confirmed the operation in a statement.

The rescue comes barely four days after troops of the same operation freed six other kidnap victims in separate incidents across Kaduna and Katsina states. Three victims, abducted from Gidan Gulbi Village on 11 September, were rescued in Igabi Local Government Area, Kaduna, while three others were freed along the Dandume-Damari axis in Dandume Local Government Area, Katsina, where troops also recovered a vehicle belonging to the victims.

The Kaduna-Katsina corridor remains a known flashpoint for banditry, with security forces stepping up patrols along the route in recent months.