Bandits have struck in Kaduna State again killing 8 persons along Kaduna-Kachia road and other locations in Kajuru and Kachia Local Government Areas of the State.
It was also learnt 25 passengers, including 19 female members of the Anglican Church, were abducted during the attack on the road in the early hours of Tuesday.
Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, who confirmed the killings in a statement Tuesday afternoon, did not however mention the alleged abduction.
According to Aruwan: “On a sad note, security agencies have reported the killing of eight persons in separate incidents in Kajuru and Kachia local government areas.
“In one incident, armed bandits barricaded the Kaduna-Kachia road around Kadanye village in Kajuru LGA and opened fire on a bus as well as a truck carrying firewood.
“Five people were killed in the attack, listed as: Alfred Makinde (the driver of the bus), Abdulrahman Dela, Dauda Adamu, Umar Dauda and Abdulrasheed Musa.
“Three persons were injured, and are receiving treatment in hospital. They are: Murtala Ibrahim, Ali Manager and Abdullahi (full name unknown)
“Similarly, armed bandits barricaded the Kaduna-Kachia road at the Doka axis of Kajuru LGA and shot at a truck, killing the driver.
“In Kachia LGA, armed bandits invaded a herders settlement in Inlowo village, and killed one Ibrahim Alhaji Haruna, before carting away 180 cows.
“At Akilbu village in Kachia LGA, armed bandits shot at a vehicle, injuring two persons, Mansur Ibrahim and Muhammadu Aminu. Mansur Ibrahim later died in hospital while Muhammadu Aminu continues to receive treatment.
An eyewitness, who prefers anonymity, said he along with other travellers arrived at the scene of the attack shortly after it happened.
He claimed to have sighted about nine lifeless bodies at different spots while a bus conveying Anglican Church members was abandoned with its occupants forced into the forest.
According to him, those that got killed were in a truck carrying firewood while the kidnapped persons included 19 occupants of an Anglican Church bus and six others from a Gulf-4 saloon car.
â€Bus carrying church women, 19 of them and Golf-4 car with six persons were kidnapped. But those killed were in a truck loaded with firewood,†he said.
