One shot dead as gunmen raid church in Kaduna

Some gunmen raided communities in Kaduna state, killing one person and abducting 17 others.

They were said to have struck in the early hours of Sunday.

Some of the villages affected are Dankande and Dogon Dawa in Birnin Gwari local government area and Guguwa-Kwate village and Rigasa area in Igabi local government area of the state.

In Dankande, a witness said over 20 gunmen surrounded a church where a choir rehearsal was going on.

“It was at about 12:30 midnight. We had a combined choir practice in the church with other neighbouring communities. We normally hold  the combine choir practice from 9:00pm to 1:00am,” the witness said.

”As we were in the church, the armed men numbering over 20 just surrounded the church and started shooting.

“Everybody was terrified but there was no how we could run because they had already surrounded the church.”

A community leader in Guguwa-Kwate said his elder’s brothers son was in the church when the gunmen struck.

“They entered one house and  were beating people. They kidnapped one man and a woman in the house. The killed my senior brother’s son,” he said.

“This is the fifth time these bandits are invading our community. About two months ago, they abducted two people in the farm.”

Efforts to reach Yakubu Sabo, spokesman of the Kaduna State police command, on the development were unsuccessful.