Bandits have killed a newly married groom and abducted his pregnant wife in Jere town, Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
The bandits also abducted four members of the family of a former Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation in Kaduna State, Abdulrahman Ibrahim Jere.
The bandits who stormed the community were said to be more than 50 and invaded the community, which is along the Abuja-Kaduna highway, on motorcycles.
They were said to have moved from house to house until they located the home of Jere who it was gathered might have been their target.
Although the said former Commissioner was not at home when the bandits visited his home, they abducted his wife, a baby girl, his younger sister and his wife’s sister.
A resident of the community told journalists that the bandits also attacked the home of a newly married couple and attempted to abduct the bride but the groom resisted, and while dragging his wife with the bandits, they shot him dead.
He said there was tension in the community as youths expressed anger that despite the combined security presence of soldiers, divisional police office and area command, security agents failed to tackle the bandits who operated for over three hours.
“We made several calls to the various security agencies on ground and they all ignored us. This is the second major attack on our community in the last three months and we feel that the security agents stationed here are of no use to us,” Adamu Jere, an angry youth, said.
An eyewitness also said the community would lodge a formal protest against security agents in Jere, adding that their action portrays them as people who “are either conniving with the bandits or people who do not care about the security of the people.”
He said hours after the bandits had escaped, security agents made efforts to trail them and later informed the community that they had successfully killed two of them.
Kaduna State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) ASP Mohammed Jalige, did not pick his calls to react to the attack and failed to respond to missed calls on his phone at the time of filing this report.
