At least five worshippers were shot dead in the early hours of Friday when armed bandits stormed a mosque in Yandoto, Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
The gunmen, who arrived on motorcycles around 5:00 a.m., attacked the congregation during dawn prayers (Fajr), firing indiscriminately at worshippers before abducting several others.
Eyewitnesses said the assailants surrounded the mosque and opened fire on those in prostration.
“They came out of nowhere, shooting wildly while people were praying,” a resident told PLATFORM TIMES. “The cries for mercy were drowned by gunshots.”
Local sources confirmed that five regular worshippers were killed instantly, while others sustained gunshot injuries and were rushed to nearby health facilities.
The attackers also whisked away an unspecified number of victims into the surrounding forest, suspected to be the Gahori Mountain axis — a notorious hideout for bandit groups operating across Zamfara and neighboring states.
Community leaders conducted swift funeral rites for the slain worshippers, describing them as martyrs, while calling on government and security agencies to protect rural dwellers from unending attacks.
The latest incident comes barely 11 days after bandits abducted about 40 worshippers during morning prayers in Gidan Turbe, also in Tsafe LGA, underscoring the worsening insecurity in the region.
When contacted, spokesperson for the Zamfara State Police Command, DSP Yazid Abubakar, said he was yet to receive a full briefing from the Divisional Police Officer in Tsafe.
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