An attempt to rescue abducted seven expatriates working with SETRACO Construction Company in Jama’are local government area of Bauchi State might be under way. Five British jet bombers yesterday arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
LEADERSHIP WEEKEND exclusively sighted the bombers which were parked at the internationalwing of the airport.
The foreign workers, who included five Lebanese, a Briton and an Italian, were abducted last Saturday by unknown gunmen in Bauchi.
LEADERSHIP WEEKEND further gathered that the bombers might be on their way to prepare ground for the eventual rescue of the foreigners.
The jet bombers were said to have arrived in theearly hours of yesterday while their colours comprised three ash and two army green. The army green jets were marked “Royal Army”.
LEADERSHIP WEEKEND further observed some foreign soldiers putting on brown camouflage uniforms were entering one of the army green jets in preparation for departure.
It was further gathered that some of the jets hadstarted leaving the airport for certain locations to assist in the rescue of the kidnapped foreigners.
The four grey-coloured jets departed the Abuja airport at about 5.55pm, leaving only the army-green jet at the airport as at press time.
The entry of the jets, the military source said, was to prevent the recent failed rescue operation in Sokoto where the terrorists killed the foreigners before they could be rescued by the security agencies, including foreign officers.
When contacted over the unusual sighting of thejets, the British high commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. Rob Fitzpatrick, told LEADERSHIP WEEKEND, “Thisis routine military-to-military engagement.”
Two hostages, Chris McManus (Britain) and Franco Lamolinara (Italy), were found dead in Sokoto on March 9, 2012, during a failed joint rescue mission by the British special forces and the Nigerian military. A group that claimed ties to al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, which happened in May 2011.
The rescue attempt began in the morning in Sokoto’s Mabera neighbourhood, a sprawling maze of sandy roads and single-storey cement homes on what used to be fertile farmland surrounding the city of 500,000 people. Residents said a seemingly unending barrage of gunfire followed, as did an attack led by a military armoured personnel carrier.
Once inside in the compound, soldiers found the two men had been killed. But details of how andwhen they died remained unclear
Information from the raid came from individuals arrested by Nigeria’s security agencies before the operation, a senior official in Nigeria said. However, British officials worried the kidnappers would realise “the net was closing” on their location.
The rescue effort ended months of uncertainty about what happened to McManus and Lamolinara. McManus was working for construction company B.Stabilini when he was kidnapped on May 12, 2011, by gunmen who stormed his apartment in the city of Birnin-Kebbi, about 110 miles (180 kilometers) away from Sokoto. Lamolinara was also abducted.
A German colleague managed to escape by scaling a wall, but a Nigerian engineer was shot and wounded.
A video later released showed the kidnappers claiming they belonged to al-Qaida and threatening to kill McManus and Lamolinara if their demands were not met.
Britain’s Foreign Office had said two men were held by terrorists associated with Boko Haram, a radical Islamist sect in Nigeria blamed for more than 300 killings this year alone. A senior British government official said the kidnappers appeared to be from an al-Qaida-linked cell within Boko Haram, but not within the group’s main faction. source.leadership,com

I hear BOOM BOOM inside Arewastan .

Can't Nigerians do the Job these expatriates do, why always bring them here just to be kidnapped?

Oh now I see.. I saw these jets yesterday at the airport with some white soldiers around them. I was wondering what the white men were doing and why such massive military equipments are on display. I later tougth to myself that they were probably purchased by our government and the white soldiers were asked to deliver them.

A Professor of African Studies in Warwick university said something I will never forget. He said, for every move of the West into Africa, its solely for their own interest even if thousands of Africans die in the process.

Five bomber jets to save a briton and an Italian? 5 bomber jets!!!

*Slots in Fela's Palaver*

"When trouble sleep, yanga go wake am"
"Na weytin him dey find? Palaver he dey find, Palaver he go get ti oooooooooo. For Lagos si ooooooo. Palaver he go get...."

Oh! This song got me buzzing like a beehive.


Frawzey

SMH boko haram go even kidnap two more soldiers join sef. guys forget movie dis na reality

gramci: I hear BOOM BOOM inside Arewastan .

some people are sure funny, this is all about oil, arewa get oil? ask beaf/reno the attitude of the US and UK towards this govt in the past few months sotay dem no gree buy una oil to frustrate development, also u no hear say dem don de claim say BH are heading south? we de kampe de watch

victorD3: Can't Nigerians do the Job these expatriates do, why always bring them here just to be kidnapped?

Sure they can!

Except that they will collect the money for 6mm rods, and then use 2mm.
The will used 50 bags of cement to cast something in place of 200.
They will buy jeep at mobilisation, marry second wife or at least increase th number of concubines.
Eventually, the project will be abandoned.

Y'all remember ikemefuna in things fall apart. Those extememist muslims in the north have killed alot of innocent people; but no Nigerian should rejoice or help in their downfall. We share the same country. Some of them call us fellow Nigerians. I see what is about to happen. CHUKWU guide ALAIGBO! CHUKWU have mercy on Nigeria. CHUKWU admonish devils. say no to devils in Nigeria. Pigs have no class, Pigs have no honour, Pigs have no humanity. YOU CANNOT BE PARTNER WITH A DEVIL. All the eyes of the devils in Nigeria, this is your last chance to desist. CHUKWU shall have no mercy for unrepentant criminals. Y'all have been warned.

OPE OOOOOOOOO

Crap journalism,and damn those nairalanders dumb enuf 2 believe they are here to engage terror.
Che na today them dey do stop over?

styuupeed reasonong by OP.

since when did bombers become hostage rescue equipment? u mean if Britain really is to come and rescue the hostages, they will come with bombers....to do what? nonsence. if u had mentioned stealth helicopters, it would hav made a biy of sense, but bombers? What The Hell! will the OP recognise a bomber if he sees one? ...no b fighter o! i mean BOMBER itself with its massive size!

Alternative reasoning will be that they are here to provide logistic support to Nigeria's mission in Mali.