Troops of I Division FCC Nigerian Army has rescued five of the students of the College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna who were kidnapped by bandits on March 11, Army Headquarters says.

The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Yerima, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.

Yerima gave the names of the rescued students as Abubakar Yakubu, Francis Paul, Obadiya Habakkuk, Amina Yusuf and Maryam Danladi.

He said the rescued students are currently receiving medical attention in a military facility in Kaduna.

According to him, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) I Division, Nigerian Army, Maj.-Gen Danjuma Alli-Keffi, has commended the troops for their effort.

“He charged them not to rest on their oars until all kidnap victims are rescued and returned to their families,” he said.

Also the military and other security agencies have successfully dislodged criminal elements that had been terroririsng Ntak Ikot Akpan area in Akwa Ibom in a joint security operation.

Yerima, disclosed that ”The general security situation in Akwa Ibom has been very peaceful until recently when the security situation around Essien Udim Local Government Area of the State became tensed occasioned by activities of some hoodlums and criminal elements.

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”Miscreants exploited various avenues to acquire weapons to perpetrate their heinous crimes,” Yerima said.

According to him, the group has attacked various security agencies which resulted in the loss of lives and carting away of weapons in the past few weeks, adding that the last incident led to the killing of some Policemen including a CSP.

“The hoodlums continued to terrorise law abiding citizens through extortion and infringement on their rights.

“Consequently a combined team of Military and Security Agencies in the State conducted a clearance operation at Ntak Ikot Akpan to in order to flush out the miscreants.

“The operation was successfully executed and resulted in the dislodgment of the criminals while fleeing hoodlums were neutralised by the Air Component.

“Normalcy has been restored in the area while the Police personnel have since assumed full control and carrying out normal duties,” he said.

Yerima urged members of the public not to panic but to remain calm and continue to support the security agencies to further consolidate on the successes recorded so far