Two churches in Kaduna State were on Sunday, attacked by gunmen who killed three worshippers and abducted many others.
Worshippers were attending Church service at Maranatha Baptist Church and St. Moses Catholic Church in Rubu community of Kaduna State when the assailants “just came and surrounded the churches” – both located in the same area, said Usman Danladi, who lives closeby.
“Before they [worshippers] noticed, they were already terrorizing them; some began attacking inside the church then others proceeded to other areas,” Danladi said. He added that “most of the victims kidnapped are from the Baptist (church) while the three killed were Catholics.”
The Kaduna state government confirmed the three deaths by the gunmen who “stormed the villages on motorcycles, beginning from Ungwan Fada, and moving into Ungwan Turawa, before Ungwan Makama and then Rubu.” Security patrols are being conducted in the general area” as investigations commence, Samuel Aruwan, Kaduna Commissioner for Security said.
The Christian Association of Nigeria condemned Sunday’s attacks and said churches in Nigeria have become “targets” of armed groups.
“It is very unfortunate that when we are yet to come out of the mourning of those killed in Owo two Sundays ago, another one has happened in Kaduna,” Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, the association’s spokesman, told The Associated Press. “It has become a recurring decimal.”
The attack in Ruby community came after a similar attack on worshippers left some 40 members of Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State dead and many others injured.
Local people said that simultaneous attacks on the churches were part of a broad raid on four villages in Kajuru area where there were also abduction of unspecified number of residents and the destruction of houses.
At least 32 people were killed in the Kajuru area last week in an attack that lasted for hours across four villages.
(Oraclenews.ng)