I watched them kill 24 Worshippers in Dogodawa - Chief Imam

Chief Imam of Dogodawa Community Mosque, Mahmud Mohammed, on Monday narrated how he hid himself in an abandoned tyre, watching how worshippers leaving the mosque were killed in Kaduna on Sunday.

Over 24 worshippers were reportedly killed while many were injured during the attack on mosque by suspected armed robbers at Dogodawa village in Birnin Gwari Local Government.

Mohammed said he saw over 100 heavily armed bandits shooting the worshippers.

“The killers were saying that they had come to make real their threat. They shot and killed even children, it was sad indeed,” he said.

A traditional title- holder of Danlawan Birnin Gwari, Alhaji Abdurauf, who blamed the police for the incident, said a governorship aspirant in the state, Alhaji Shuaibu Mikati, had earlier alerted the police to the threats to life and property in the area by robbers.

He said, “But nothing was done until the dawn attack on Sunday which has turned the entire area into deep sorrow and mourning.”

He said Mikati wrote a letter to the Inspector-General of Police, notifying him of the warning issued by unknown persons who had vowed to unleash terror on the area.

He said Mikati appealed to the police to upgrade the police post at Dogodawa to the status of a police station “but instead they gradually withdrew the six policemen that were stationed at the police post and that led to the closure of the police post”.

He also said four members of the vigilance group were identified by the gunmen and killed during the raid.

Meanwhile, Patrick Yakow has said will summon an emergency meeting of the state security council to strategised on how to drive away criminals from Birnin Gwari.