Armed terrorists on Wednesday stormed Ba’are village in Mashegu local government area of Niger State and killed worshipers inside a mosque.
While sources said 16 worshippers were killed, police in the state said only nine persons were killed in the attack.
The worshipers were said to have been killed while observing their early morning prayers (Subhi) in the mosque which was filled to capacity.
Nigerian Tribune reports that the gunmen came into the village in a large convoy of motorcycles wielding sophisticated weapons and killed the worshipers indiscriminately one after the other.
The armed men, on their arrival in the village, cordoned off the entrances of the mosque and shot sporadically from all directions forcing the worshipers to scamper into nearby bushes.
According to Abubakar Salihu, an eyewitness who was able to escape from the mosque, the armed bandits arrived in the community at about 5:33 am on Wednesday and opened fire on the worshipers who were almost on the last raka’at of the prayer.
He said he was lucky to have escaped through the exit meant for the Imam.
He said his father and two of his younger brothers were killed by the armed men while about nine others sustained varying degrees of gunshots injuries.
Meanwhile, the State Commissioner of Police, Mr Monday Bala Kuryas, confirmed the incident in a telephone interview, however, put the casualty figures at nine.
The Police boss emphasized that “only nine persons were killed by the suspected bandits while several others narrowly escaped being killed by the hoodlums but sustained varying degrees of injuries from their assailants.”
