The Police Command in Niger State revealed on Monday that gunmen have killed an unspecified number of people while observing early morning Muslim prayer (Subhi) at a mosque at Mazakuka village in Mashegu Local Government Area of the northcentral state.
The Commissioner of Police in Niger state, Monday Kuryas, who disclosed this to newsmen in Minna on Monday, said the hoodlums also abducted seven other worshipers at the mosque.
Kuryas said the incident occurred on October 25 at about 5:30am.
According to him, the gunmen also destroyed property worth millions of Naira belonging to one Alhaji Abubakar Maigandus in the village.
He said security personnel, however, shot dead one of the bandits.
Kuryas stated that authorities suspects the incident to be a reprisal attack resulting from a long standing communal feud.
“We are battle-ready to confront any form of criminal elements as long as good residents will volunteer credible information on movement of dubious characters in their midst,” Kuryas said.
This year, bandits have kidnapped more than 1,000 people.
According to an American Security Project Report (2021), 200,000 people have fled their communities in Northern Nigeria this year, with 77,000 of them crossing the border in search of safer abodes outside the country.
