TERRORISTS IN KATSINA ABDUCT EIGHT WOMEN HEADING TO CHURCH AND ASSAULT A CLERIC

On Sunday morning, suspected terrorists operating in Katsina State’s Kankara Local Government Area abducted five women who were en route to church for Sunday worship. It was also claimed that a pastor was injured in the assault.

ValidViewNetwork was able to gether that those kidnapped were all ladies, according to Bello Bello, the Chairman of Community Policing Relations in Kankara LGA, who verified the allegation.

Bello debunked an earlier story that the thugs abducted the congregants within the New Life Church in Gidan Haruna, which was credited to Rev. Ishaya Jurau, the Senior Special Assistant on Christian Affairs to Governor Aminu Bello Masari.

Six married women and two single women were among those taken hostage, according to a second local source who verified the attack to Vanguard but did not want his identity published. However, in contrast to Bello’s assertion, he claimed that the incident happened inside the church.

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“The bandits came to the church riding on nine motorcycles and surrounded the church. Then they started forcing the members out of the church but the Pastor tried to prevent them. So, they beat him up and broke his leg before disappearing with the six married women and two single ladies from the church premise.

The source claims that they are subjected to persistent harassment by the bandits on a daily basis to the point that they are tired of it and wish they could leave the neighborhood.

In the course of investigating the situation, ValidViewNetwork gathered that the thugs just yesterday freed two locals who had been held captive for roughly seven weeks after receiving an undisclosed payment.

However, as the time of reporting, The Katsina Police’s spokesman, SP Gambo Isah, has not yet released a formal statement on the attack.