- Safiu Kehinde
At least people have been confirmed dead with 35 abducted during bandits attack on a church in Kwara state.
NPO Reported that a gang armed bandits had on Tuesday evening stormed the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Oke Isegun at Eruku community in Ekiti Local Government Area of the state.
Livestream footage of the attack showed moment the suspected bandits stormed the church and opening fire at the congregation who scampered for safety.
The suspected bandits advanced into the church’s premises where they abducted scores of people.
As against initial reports that recorded two casualties, one of the survivors of the attack however confirmed that three people were killed with 35 abducted.
The survivor (name withheld), in an interview in Yoruba with the BBC, recounted how the bandits who, according to him were over 30 had stormed the church and opened fire.
He disclosed that the church’s security official was repeatedly shot by the bandits before they entered the church and abducted 35 people.
He claimed that the police arrived moments after the attack and only fired teargas across the street which made it difficult for people and vigilantes to move.
“They shot our security man. Then they entered the church and opened fire again. Those who went to the pulpit, they dragged them outside.
“The bandits were up to 30 and we’re all armed. They killed three people and abducted 35. They took them to the bush and we’ve not heard anything from them.
“We haven’t received any call from them. The Police only came and started firing teargas.
“When we left here to go home, we couldn’t see clearly because of the teargas. The vigilantes too were unable to to go after the bandits due to the teargas.
“We’ve buried two out of the three people killed.” The survivor narrated in Yoruba.