Katsina Mosque Attack: Gunmen Fatally Shoot 12 People During Evening Prayers

At least a dozen people were killed and 19 were abducted by gunmen, who attacked a mosque in the country's northwest on Saturday.

Gunmen on motorbikes attacked the mosque in the town of Funtua in President Muhammadu Buhari's home state of Katsina, killing 12 people, including the chief imam.

The Katsina State Police said on Sunday that six of the abducted victims have been rescued.

A combined team of the police and the vigilante initially rescued two of the victims on Saturday night, while the other four were rescued early Sunday morning.

"Presently, 13 victims are still in the custody of the terrorists and our operatives are making serious efforts to ensure that they are rescued without any injury," said the police.

The tragic event unfolded in spite of Nigeria beefing up security in recent months in an effort to quell violence in the region.

The gunmen carried out a coordinated attack on the mosque in Maigamji village during evening prayers Saturday. They first shot the imam and another worshipper before storming the mosque and carrying out the kidnappings, said local police spokesman Gambo Isah.

Abdullahi Mohammed, a resident of Funtua, told Reuters that the gunmen had forced many people into a nearby bush.

"I'm praying that the bandits release the innocent people they abducted," he said.

The northwest region of Nigeria is not plagued by the Boko Haram insurgency, but it does have its own security challenges. The region faces a cocktail of security threats, consisting of farmer-pastoralist conflicts and rural banditry.

For years now, criminal gangs in the northwest and central Nigeria - commonly referred to as bandits - have been terrorizing villages with raids, stealing cattle, and kidnapping people for ransom.

Hostages are usually only released once a ransom is paid to the gangs, who then retreat into the Rugu forest. This forest spans four states in northwest Nigeria, one of them being Katsina.

Up to 65,000 Nigerians have fled their homes following a series of attacks by armed groups on Damasak town in northeast Nigeria's restive Borno State in April 2021, according to a report by the UN.