BANDITS stormed a mosque in Maigamji village along the Funtua-Dandume route, disrupting yesterday’s Isha’i prayer by worshipers in the Funtua Local Government Area of Katsina.
Alhaji Lawal Maigamji, a former councilor for Maigamji ward in Katsina’s Funtua LGA, reported that when the bandits arrived, they opened fire on two persons, including the Imam leading the prayers.
Malam Yusha’u, the Imam, and Hussaini Jamo, a worshipper, were the two people shot, he stated, noting that they were both being treated at a hospital in Funtua.
They surrounded the mosque during Isha’i congregational prayer, Lawal Maigamji stated that, after shooting Imam Yusha’u and Hussaini Jamo, they then kidnapped 18 people and fled with them into the bush.
However, four of the kidnapped victims, he continued, managed to escape from their captors while being transported.
In a related development, it is reported that at least 31 persons were kidnapped early on Friday in the villages of Karare and Kokiya in the Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State.
A group of roughly 40 motorcycle-riding terrorists raided the village, where they killed one person and kidnapped a number of residents, including women and children.
According to information obtained some of the abductees were Kokiya village kids who were en route to the Government Day Secondary School, Karare.
Residents of Karare and Kokiya villages had not yet tallied the number of abducted victims at the time this story was being written.
Residents in Katsina who spoke with newsmen voiced concern over the rising number of kidnappings for ransom, cattle rustlings, and brutal killings of innocent people.
Speaking with the police spokesman, SP Gambo Isah, to confirm the event, he said he would speak with the local DPO and get back to our reporter.
The chairman of Batsari Local Government Area, Yusuf Yanji, acknowledged the kidnapping of certain citizens but denied the reports of the students’ kidnapping, maintaining that the rumors were untrue.
