Nigeria: Nine killed in an assault on a mosque in Kaduna state

On Friday, September 1, 2023, an assault by suspected terrorists within the Saya-Saya locality inside Nigeria’s Kaduna State’s Ikara Local Government resulted within the tragic deaths of at the very least 9 worshippers. Alhassan Muhammed, the consultant of Ikara native authorities within the state’s House of Assembly, revealed that the assailants focused two communities. While 7 individuals had been killed inside a mosque throughout evening prayer, two others had been killed within the neighbourhood.

Responding to the incident, a joint pressure comprising navy and different safety personnel has initiated operations to find the terrorists, who had posed as members of the Ikara neighborhood. During the assault, seven Muslim worshippers misplaced their lives in a mosque, whereas two others had been killed on the best way because the attackers tried to flee the scene.

Alhassan Muhammed stated, “The sad incident happened on Friday after night prayers, the gunmen invaded the Saya-Saya town on a motorcycle with sophisticated weapons. They started shooting inside and outside the mosque during the night prayer, killing seven people inside the mosque and two others in the neighbourhood. The Kaduna State government, the local government councils and other stakeholders are on top of the situation to prevent the recurrence of the ugly incident.”

According to a witness named Dan-Asabe Ikara, two further people fell sufferer to the identical assailants in Tashin Dauda, a close-by village, as they tried to flee from the preliminary assault scene. This took the overall toll of deaths to 9.

Dan-Asabe Ikara stated, “I was there when the incident happened, we were praying. I was at the mosque premises, and two of the attackers covered their faces and approached the mosque before they started firing. One of them (attackers) blew a whistle, and one other said ‘We have arrived’ before they started firing indiscriminately at the worshippers. They killed six people inside the mosque, and the seventh victim died at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, in Kano State, before being attended (to) by a medical doctor.”

State police authorities have attributed blame to the members of the Ikara neighborhood for not promptly notifying safety personnel concerning the presence of unfamiliar people inside their neighborhood. These strangers had been reportedly noticed out there and numerous different areas by the Ikara residents earlier than the assault occurred.

The police spokesman in Kaduna state of Nigeria, Mansir Hassan stated, “We are calling on the public to report any suspicious movement or the presence of strange faces within their vicinities for prompt response by the force. The bandits were spotted in the village on surveillance earlier in the day but none of the villagers could alert the appropriate security agency before the hoodlums struck in the night. The Command is not happy with the situation. The bandits went to the village around 4 p.m., buying things from the villagers. Seeing strange faces, the villagers were supposed to communicate with the police in the area.”

He stated, “Bandits, about nine of them on motorcycles, arrived and attacked the people in the Mosque. At about 8:00 p.m. on Friday, we received information from Saya-Saya village that six persons were killed while performing the last prayer of the day in a Mosque. At the spot, they shot six persons while praying in a mosque in the village. The bandits took away four motorcycles. So far no arrest was made at the scenes of the incident but five empty shells of AK49 rifle were recovered.”

Such terrorist assaults should not new to Nigeria; closely armed unknown teams have wreaked havoc in northern Nigeria for the previous three years. They have kidnapped 1000’s and killed tons of of individuals. In some areas, they’ve made highway journey unsafe.