Bauchi Kidnapping: Terrorist Group Claims Responsibility

The fast-growing new terrorist group, Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis- Sudan (a.k.a JAMBS), on Monday claimed responsibility for Sunday’s seizure of six foreign workers in Bauchi. A guard was also killed during the raid on the company’s premises where the expatriates were kidnapped. The victims are believed to include an Italian, a Filipino, a Briton, one Greek and a Lebanese. They were working on a construction project when the militants attacked on Sunday, reports say.

JAMBS, believed to have been a breakaway faction of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, had similarly claimed responsibility for the attack on Nigerian soldiers on their way to Mali last month. The group, according to a BBC report, announced that it was behind Sunday’s kidnapping in an email, saying it had “the custody of seven persons, which include Lebanese and their European counterparts” working with a construction firm, Setraco

The kidnappers of the six foreigners said to be about 24, armed with rifles and dynamites, were said to have blown up two separate spots at the facility and escaped with the hostages, including those seized from the club house. The incident has precipitated a fresh travel alert by the British and American embassies, warning their citizens to avoid troubled states in Nigeria.

The embassies updated their travel warnings on Monday, asking their citizens against all but essential travel to some states of the federation.