Suspected terrorists have reportedly abducted an unspecified number of worshippers in one of the mosques in Tsafe town, the headquarters of Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State, Northwest Nigeria.
Although the Zamfra State Police command is yet to make any official statement on the incident, a resident of the area identified as Abubakar, told ait.live that the suspected terrorists invaded the mosque at about 5:00am this Thursday, when locals were about to commence the early morning Muslim prayers.
In his words, ”We were about to commence the early morning prayer today, Thursday, when suddenly the suspected terrorists made their way into the mosque and asked everyone to go out and follow them.”
According to him, “at that moment several worshippers ran for their safety, but unfortunately, the suspected terrorists blocked all exits, and threatened to shoot at anyone who tried to escape. I was able to scale out through a window and ran quickly to an uncompleted building near the mosque, where I hid myself.”
The suspected terrorists were said to have left their motorcycles far away from the town and stormed the troubled mosque on foot, so that residents of the town would not suspect their movement.
The suspected terrorists were said to have abducted over 30 worshippers, marched them to where they kept their motorcycles, and from there took them to the forest.
The eyewitness account said the mosque was filled when the suspected terrorists launched the attack, and very few worshippers were able to escape.
Operatives of the Community Protection Guards were said to have been on the trail of the suspected terrorists, to rescue the kidnapped worshippers but could not meet the terrorists, who had gone with their victims.
Tsafe Local Government is one of the Local Government Areas of Zamfara State that have been worst hit by banditry activities, as innocent travellers are being kidnapped either on the highway or from their communities.
It is the same Council area where several suspected terrorists lost their lives a few days ago, in a clash between two rival groups.
The Zamfra State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent, ASP Yazid Abubakar, could not be reached on the phone at the time of this report.
(Editor: Ken Eseni)
