Scores of of worshippers have been kidnapped in one of the mosques in Tsafe town, the headquarters of Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
A local of the area simply identified as Garba revealed that the gunmen stormed the mosque around 5 a.m. on Thursday when the worshippers 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 said the bandits kept their motorcycles far away from the mosque to evade being seen.
“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.
Garba said more than 30 worshippers were kidnapped.
He said “the mosque was full to capacity when the bandits attacked the place and very few of us were able to escape.”
An anonymous community leader revealed that the local vigilante had gone after the bandits to rescue the kidnapped worshippers.
Tsafe Local Government is one of the worst hit by banditry in the state.
The 56km Tsafe-Gusau Road has now become dreadful due to daily kidnappings on it.
It would be recalled that a recent rival groups clashes led to the killings of five leaders of different groups as well as scores of fighters.
The spokesperson for the state police command, ASP Yazid Abubakar, could not be reached for comments as phone calls to his line proved abortive.
