Five Security Personnel, Four Civilians Killed In Oyo Rescue Mission – DSS

The Department of State Services (DSS) has disclosed that nine people lost their lives during security operations launched to rescue victims abducted by suspected terrorists in Oyo State.

Naija News reports that the fatalities comprised five security personnel and four civilians, according to the Director-General of the DSS, Tosin Ajayi.

Ajayi, who gave details of the operation in an interview published by Premium Times, said security forces moved against the abductors shortly after receiving intelligence on their location.

He also linked the kidnapping network to an international terrorist organisation with alleged ties to Al-Qaeda, saying some of its leaders had previously been arrested and subsequently convicted.

Giving an account of the security response, the DSS chief said operatives immediately pursued the kidnappers after the abduction.

The first attempt resulted in the deaths of a police officer and a vigilante, while additional casualties were recorded when security forces later attacked the kidnappers’ hideout.

Ajayi said, “Immediately after the incident happened, based on credible intelligence, troops chased them, and sadly, a vigilante and a policeman were killed. During the second raid, more were killed, making a total of nine fatalities, four civilians and five security personnel.”

Ajayi said rescuing the hostages required careful planning because of the ages and vulnerability of some of those being held.

Among the captives, according to him, was a two-and-a-half-year-old child, making a direct assault on the kidnappers’ location particularly risky.

“It was a complex operation involving a two-and-a-half-year-old infant who could not run much if we invaded the place,” he explained.

Ajayi also expressed concern about what he described as misinformation that circulated online while the rescue operation was ongoing.

According to him, some videos presented on social media as evidence of children being tortured by the kidnappers had no connection with the Oyo incident.

He said, “As expected, the rescue operation attracted a lot of social media disinformation. You have to sieve the information there.

“While that incident lasted, they were posting deepfake videos of children beaten with lacerations on their bodies. They were actually footage from a particular country on witchcraft-related incidents passed off as real-time crude events here.

“Recall the victims recounted how well-treated they were by the criminals. So, one of the things I’d like you to do in the media is fact-finding and separating facts from fiction.

“Citizens ought to know that the incarcerated leaders of the kidnap group who were requested in exchange for the victims were arrested last year by the Service; their arrest helped to prevent high-profile attacks.”

The DSS boss further alleged that the detained leaders were connected to the Abuja-Kaduna train attack and had been preparing additional mass abductions.

According to him, the suspects were “found complicit in the Abuja/Kaduna train attack and were planning more kidnappings of foreigners, students, women and their children on a large scale.”

Ajayi said the group also pursued an ideological objective of securing territory where it could establish its own authority and practise its religion.

He argued that the earlier arrest of its leaders was therefore a preventive measure aimed at disrupting the organisation’s activities before further attacks could be carried out.

The DSS chief disclosed that the group’s kingpins and three alleged collaborators had since been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

“The kingpins are the ones now sentenced to life imprisonment. The three other collaborators earned life imprisonment, and the Service will push for a stiffer penalty,” he said.