Some armed men invaded a mosque at the Ga Allah Babba villages near Sabon Layi, Kakagi in Birinin-Gwari Local Government Area of the Kaduna State in the wee hours of Tuesday, killing the Chief Imam and a worshipper identified as Kabir, while others sustained various degrees of injuries during the attack. It was gathered by one of the community leaders, Zubair Abdurrauf, that the bandits were returning from Zamfara State via the Kamuku forest near the village when they ran into the Muslim faithful observing their morning prayers. 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 5 am 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.
Chairman of Birnin-Gwari Vanguard for Security and Good Governance, Ibrahim Abubakar Maigwari in a statement, explained that “almost on a daily basis, terrorists are on patrol across the entire Birnin-Gwari local government area, killing and abducting innocent citizens. “The situation is more worrisome on the Birnin-Gwari-Kaduna highway and has become a nightmare for travellers,” he added.