Bandits have reportedly abducted scores of worshippers in one of the mosques in Tsafe town, the headquarters of Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
According to The Punch report, an indigene of the area simply identified as Garba claimed that the bandits invaded the mosque around 5 a.m. on Thursday when the people were about to start the morning prayer.
Garba said, ”We were about to start the morning prayer today, Thursday when suddenly they (bandits) entered into the mosque and directed everybody to go out and follow them.
“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.”
Garba maintained that the bandits left their motorcycles 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.
“They later marched the worshippers to their motorcycles and took them to the forest,” he added.
According to Garba, the number of abducted worshippers could be more than 30.
He added that “the mosque was full to capacity when the bandits attacked the place and very few of us were able to escape.”
One of the community leaders said that members of the Community Protection Guards are on the trail of the bandits in order to rescue the kidnapped worshippers.
All efforts to get comments from the spokesperson for the state police command, ASP Yazid Abubakar, proved abortive, as he could not be reached on the phone after several attempts.
