Naija News

(AFP) – Armed robbers opened fire on a group of people as they left
prayers at a mosque in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna on
Sunday, killing about 20, a military spokesman said.

A resident reported that the gunmen were disguised in police uniforms
as they stormed the mosque in the village of Dogon Dawa just before
sunrise, shooting both those still worshipping within the building as
well as some outside.

"It is a clear case of armed robbery" Lieutenant Colonel Sani Usman
told AFP, confirming the shooting. "The last time I spoke with my
(contact) in the area, he said it was 20 people dead."

Religiously divided Kaduna has seen waves of sectarian violence in
recent months.

Suicide bombings at three churches in June that were claimed by
Islamist group Boko Haram sparked reprisal violence by Christian mobs
who killed dozens of their Muslim neighbours, burning some of their
victims' bodies.

Muslim groups also formed mobs and killed several Christians.

Usman however told AFP that the latest attack was linked to a running
feud between a group of "bandits" and a vigilante group in Dogon Dawa.

The thieves had tried to rob some residents earlier in the week but
were repelled, he said, adding that the robbers returned to the
village on Sunday and carried out what he termed a "revenge" attack.

Asked about a potential religious element in the shootings, he said
only that "the victims were coming from prayers" at the mosque.

Village resident Dauda Maikudi told AFP that thieves regularly target
the area as Dogon Dawa falls along a main road frequently used by
traders carrying goods and cash between the north and south of
Africa's most populous country.

"It was a pre-dawn raid," he said. "The attackers…, some of them
dressed in police uniform, came into the village. They killed eight
worshippers in the mosque and killed 13 other residents in the
village."

"We believe they were armed robbers because this area has been
bedeviled with armed robbers for years," he added.

Maikudi's higher death toll and details of the gunmen's clothing could
not be immediately confirmed by the security services.

Dogon Dawa is roughly 70 kilometres (44 miles) from the state capital
Kaduna city.

Violent robbery is common on Kaduna's notoriously dangerous major
roadways, with attackers often setting up roadblocks and targetting
their victims under the cover of darkness.