Bandits kill 1, abduct Catholic priest in Kaduna

Bandits have reportedly abducted Reverend Father Markus Samari at the Kuse-Gudu community in Kagarko Local Government Area (LGA) of Kaduna State. One Emmanuel Yaro was reportedly shot dead during the attack. A resident of Kagarko town, Salihu Mahmud, said the incident happened on Sunday, around 5:37 pm, when the bandits invaded the Reverend’s residence and […]

Bandits have reportedly abducted Reverend Father Markus Samari at the Kuse-Gudu community in Kagarko Local Government Area (LGA) of Kaduna State.

One Emmanuel Yaro was reportedly shot dead during the attack.
A resident of Kagarko town, Salihu Mahmud, said the incident happened on Sunday, around 5:37 pm, when the bandits invaded the Reverend’s residence and whisked him away.

He said the bandits, wielding sophisticated weapons in their numbers, targeted the Reverend after he returned from church and was resting in his parlor. Two of the bandits reportedly forced their way into his house.
“According to one of the Reverend’s relatives, who is my neighbour here in Kagarko town, the Reverend had just returned from church when the bandits struck and whisked him away at gunpoint,” he said.
A community leader from the area, who preferred anonymity for security reason, also confirmed the abduction of the Reverend to our reporter by telephone on Monday morning.
He said he received the report of the abduction of the Reverend through a phone call from one of the victim’s family members on Sunday night.
“On Sunday night around 7 pm, I received a call from one of the victim’s family members that bandits had invaded the Reverend Father’s house and whisked him away,” he said.
He said he immediately alerted the troops stationed at the entrance to Kagarko town over the abduction of the victim.
Our reporter also gathered that bandits, on Saturday, invaded a Fulani settlement at Sabon-Kurutu village and rustled cows.
It was learned that some of the bandits, wielding sophisticated weapons, stormed the herders’ camp on motorcycles amid sporadic shooting, which forced the herders to run for cover.
A police source in Kagarko confirmed the two incidents but referred our reporter to the command’s headquarters in Kaduna for details.
However, the spokesperson of the Kaduna State Police Command, ASP Hassan Mansur, is yet to confirm the incident as of the time of filing this report, and several calls put across to him were not connected.