The police in Kebbi State have confirmed that five worshippers were killed on Wednesday in an attack on a mosque by suspected members of the Lakurawa terrorists group in the Maiyama Local Government Area of Kebbi State.
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PREMIUM TIMES reported how the residents said the attackers surrounded the mosque during a nighttime Qur’anic Tafsir session, and opened fire on the congregation.
The police spokesperson in the state, Bashir Usman, in a statement, said the attack occurred around 8:30 p.m. in the Dadin Kowa community.
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According to Mr Usman, the attack was a reprisal by the terrorists during which five worshippers were killed and three others injured during the Taraweeh prayers.
He said the survivors are currently hospitalised.
“The assailants fled into the bush before the arrival of security operatives. While the Command Commiserates with the families and people of Maiyama, the police, in collaboration with the Military and local vigilante groups, were immediately deployed to the area to restore calm and maintain public order, the police spokesperson said.
Residents suspect the terrorists retaliated against assaults by security forces on their hideouts and the failure of an ambush targeting a military commander’s convoy.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 8 Division and Commander, Sector 2, of the Joint Task Force North West Operation Fansan Yamma, Bemgha Koughna, a major general, survived the ambush.
The ambush led to a fierce gun battle, resulting in the killing of many insurgents and the loss of guns and other logistics to the military.
This mosque attack comes just one week after the suspected Lakurawa group carried out attacks in Kebbi’s Arewa LGA, which claimed 34 lives, including 23 youths.
Recent patterns of violence in the state have seen terrorists increasingly targeting mosques and residential areas—burning homes, looting property, and displacing entire communities.
The emergence of the Lakurawa group – an extremist sect with links to Sahelian terror networks in Niger and Mali – has seen the escalation of insecurity in North-west Nigeria, particularly in Kebbi and Sokoto states.
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