The Armed Forces of Nigeria on Monday denied reports that the reported attack on Kaduna International Airport by terrorists last Saturday shut down operations as the incidents happened six kilometres away from the Terminal and outside the airport perimetre fence.
The military confirmed that 12 of the invading terrorists were killed by Nigerian Air Force (NAF) airstrikes.
Speaking after an assessment tour of the airport by Kaduna State Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan; Garrison Commander, 1 Division, Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Uriah Opuene and Air Force Base Commander, Air Commodore Ademuyiwa Adedoyin, General Opuene told journalists at the scene of the attack that the Kaduna International Airport was very secured.
Opuene explained that there are several layers of security at the airport and that terrorists could not have dared to attack it.
He said preliminary investigations revealed that the terrorists were just passing through the back of the airport towards Riyawa village when they sighted the security man engaged by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) to watch over their meteorological equipment around the axis.
“As you can see, this place is about six kilometres away from the airport terminal.
“The bandits were only passing behind the airport perimetre fence when they saw the security man engaged by NAMA, and they fired at him. They just took advantage of that to pass a message that they had attacked the airport.
“There are several layers of security at the airport; this is the first layer, and even this first layer was not breached, because from the moment of hearing that shot, it took our men just about three minutes to get here from the next layer of security.
“On arrival, the bandits were already running away, so we engaged them through the use of ground forces. Then we called for an air strike and a helicopter was deployed and from the air report, about 12 of the bandits were killed.
“So, as you can see from the distance, the insinuation outside that the terrorists took over the airport is not correct. If the terrorists had entered, they would have met us there,” he said.
Also speaking, the NAF Base Commander, Air Commodore Adedoyin, said security around the airport had been beefed up after the security of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) was breached last year, adding that bandits don’t have the audacity to attack Kaduna airport.
The security commissioner, while assuring that the airport is safe and secured, said the state government has engaged citizens in communities around the airport to scale up intelligence gathering.
He re-emphasised that there was no threat to the immediate vicinity of the airport because the military are ahead of the bandits.