Bandits attack Zamfara mosque, abduct worshippers

An unspecified number of worshippers were on Thursday morning, abducted when heavily armed bandits invaded a mosque in Tsafe town, the headquarters of Tsafe local government area of Zamfara State.

According to reports, the bandits stormed the mosque at about 5am on Thursday as worshippers were observing the morning Fajr prayer.

A resident of the town who narrated how the incident happened said after entering the mosque, the bandits directed the worshippers to follow them with the threat to kill anyone who failed to comply.

”We were about to start the morning prayer today, Thursday when suddenly the bandits entered into the mosque and directed everybody to go out and follow them,” the resident said.

“Everybody scampered for safety but the bandits blocked everywhere and warned us that they would kill anybody who tried to run away.

“I was able to jump out of the window and ran quickly into one of the uncompleted buildings near the mosque where I hid myself.”

He added that the bandits who came on motorcycles, left their bikes far away from the mosque so that the worshippers would not notice their movement.

“They came on foot, leaving their motorcycles outside the town so that they would not attract the attention of the people of the area.

“The mosque was full to capacity when the bandits attacked the place and very few of us were able to escape.

“They later marched the worshippers to their motorcycles and took them to the forest,” he added.

According to him, at a rough count, over 30 worshippers were abducted by the bandits while the community still searching and taking head counts to ascertain the number of missing people.

Meanwhile, the Zamfara State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Yazid Abubakar, who confirmed the incident to journalists, said the details were still sketchy but promised to release a statement when he has been briefed by the Tsafe Divisional Police Command.

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