Nigeria: Gunmen kill seven worshippers in Kaduna state

Police reported Saturday that gunmen murdered seven Muslim worshippers and wounded three others in two separate attacks on mosques in Kaduna state, northwest Nigeria.

Suspects from criminal groups, known as bandits, opened fire on worshippers in Saya-Saya hamlet in Ikara district after evening prayers on Friday, killing six persons, according to Kaduna State police spokesperson Mansir Hassan.

“At about 8:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Friday, we received information from Saya-Saya village that six persons were killed while performing last prayer of the day… in a mosque,” Hassan said.

“Bandits, about nine of them on motorcycles, arrived and attacked the people in the mosque,” he said.

The attackers then went to the adjoining village of Tashar Dauda, where they assaulted another mosque, killing one person and injuring three others, he claimed.

The offenders fled into the jungle on four motorbikes, according to Hassan’s allegation.

According to Abdulrahman Yusuf, the local leader of Saya-Saya, the head of the village’s vigilantes was among the worshippers slaughtered in the mosque.

“We believe he was the main target of the attack and he was from all indications trailed to the mosque by the bandits,” said Yusuf who was among worshippers who escaped unhurt.

Kaduna is one of several states in northwest and central Nigeria where bandits assault communities, kill and abduct citizens, and plunder and destroy homes.

The criminals, who are driven by financial gain, assault churches and mosques on a regular basis in order to abduct worshippers for ransom or to avenge colleagues murdered or caught by local vigilantes battling them.

Local officials in Kaduna have voiced alarm about the growing collaboration between bandits and jihadists fighting a 14-year war in the northeast to build a Caliphate.