Gunmen have reportedly attacked Zunuruk community in Kaura Local Government Area in Southern Kaduna, Kaduna State, killing five football lovers, including a secondary school teacher, who was also the coach of the community’s football team.
Scores of others were said to have sustained injuries following gunshots in the area by the bandits.
The National President, Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, Jonathan Asake, confirmed the incident at a press conference on Friday in Kaduna.
He said the attack took place on Sunday, December 8, 2019.
It was observed that a police checkpoint is a few kilometres away from where the incident took place.
He said those who sustained gunshot wounds were taken to the Kafanchan General Hospital in Jema’a Local Government Area while some with critical cases were referred to 44 Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna, as well as the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, also in the state.
Asake, who was a former member of the House of Representatives, gave the names of those killed as Kefas Peter (39) and Solomon Yohana (48), the secondary schoolteacher and father of five.
Others were Felix John (46), Garba Barnabas (37) and Ishaku Dauda (26).
According to Asake, four others who were rushed to the Kafanchan General Hospital are Kajang Babangida, Francis Abba, Ishaku Dauda while Justice Dennis was referred to the 44 ARH, Kaduna.
“Again, the Army hospital referred two of them to the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital in Shika, Zaria. Sadly Ishaku Dauda (26) couldn’t make it – he died on Tuesday morning, bringing the death toll to five,” he said.
While condemning the attack, the former lawmaker urged communities in Southern Kaduna to be vigilant and collaborate with security agencies to ensure the protection of lives and property of the people.
The SOKAPU boss said, “Less than 24 hours after the handing over of our secretariat as newly elected National Executive Committee of SOKAPU, dark forces of evil struck our communities once again, with such a renewed dimension of terror that was not thought possible in 2019.
“At about 6 pm on Sunday 8, December, 2019, an annual football tournament to foster peace and unity between three communities had just come to an end at the football field of LEA Primary School, Zunuruk – a peaceful farming community close to Kagoro town in Kaura Local Government Area.
“By our independent findings, it was just when the last whistle was blown; signalling the end of the match around 6 pm that the rattling of what sounded like gunshots was heard, followed by torrents of bullets fired at the crowd.
“Within a few minutes, four able-bodied young men, all married with children, lay dead in the pools of their blood. Four others were critically injured and were rushed to the nearby General Hospital in Kafanchan.
“In the early morning of Saturday, just a day before the attack at Zunuruk, one Dogara Kazah was killed in Agban Gida, Kagoro, about two kilometers from Zunuruk and not far from another military checkpoint.”
As of the time of writing this report, the Kaduna State Police Command had yet to confirm the incident.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Yakubu Sabo, could not be reached as his phone rang out. There was no reply to a message sent to his mobile phone.
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