Gunmen have kidnapped 19 Muslim worshipers after an attack on a mosque in Nigeria’s restive northwest, police said Sunday. Attackers stormed a mosque in Maigamji village in Katsina state during Saturday evening prayers and carried out kidnappings after shooting and wounding an imam and another worshipper, local police spokesman Gambo Isah said.
“Our men mobilized and went after the bandits and managed to rescue six worshipers from their captors while efforts are on to free the remaining 13,” he added. He added that two injured people were treated in hospital. Northwest and central Nigeria are terrorized by criminal gangs known locally as bandits who raid villages, steal livestock, kidnap for ransom and burn houses after looting supplies.
The hostages are usually released after a ransom is paid for the gangs, who take refuge in the vast forest of Rugu. It is spread across four states in the northwest of Nigeria, including Katsina. Last month, 15 people were killed and several others wounded in a series of attacks by bandits on villages in neighboring Kaduna state, authorities said. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is under intense pressure to end the violence before he leaves office next year at the end of his eight years in office. Concerns are growing about an alliance in the northeast between bandits and jihadists who have waged a 12-year insurgency to establish a caliphate.
