Bandits stormed a mosque in the Ga Allah Babba village, near Sabon Layi in Kaduna State’s Birnin-Gwari Local Government Area, killing the mosque’s chief imam and two other worshippers and injuring two more.
Although the state police have yet to corroborate the occurrence, a community leader, Zubair Abdurrauf, informed reporters that it occurred in the early hours of Tuesday as Muslims were performing their morning prayers.
He said that the bandits were returning from Zamfara State through the Kamuku forest near Kuriga village when they saw Muslim faithful observing morning prayer.
The gunmen, he said, immediately closed the mosque and opened fire on the worshippers, killing the chief imam and two others.
Abdulrauf further disclosed that two other worshippers who sustained life-threatening injuries were rushed to the Jibrin Maigwari General Hospital for treatment.
“The attack took place at Ga Allah Babba of Sabon Layi, an agrarian community in the western part of Birnin-Gwari. These are areas neighbouring the Kamuku National Park and the Kuyebana forest in Zamfara and Niger States,” he stated.
“The imam of a mosque and two other worshippers were killed. It occurred around 5am on Tuesday. Two other worshippers who sustained life-threatening injuries are at the Jibrin Maigwari General Hospital, Birnin-Gwari.
“Bandits attack Birnin-Gwari communities almost daily, killing and abducting residents, especially farmers. The situation is more worrisome on the Birnin-Gwari-Kaduna highway and has become a nightmare for travellers and other road users.”
While lamenting the constant attacks by bandits in most communities in the local government, Abdurrauf called on North-West governors to urgently set up a joint security task force that will include conventional security agencies and local vigilantes to flush out the bandits from their enclaves.