Five people have been killed by yet to be identified gunmen who reportedly attacked Zunuruk community in Kaura Local Government Area in Southern Kaduna, Kaduna State.
According to the National President, Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, Jonathan Asake, the gunmen attacked the community on Sunday, December 8, 2019, during their annual football tournament.
Among those killed was a secondary schoolteacher, who was also the coach of the community’s football team.
Asake, a former member of the House of Representative, who addressed a press conference on Friday in Kaduna said those who sustained gunshot wounds were taken to the Kafanchan General Hospital in Jema’a Local Government Area while the critical cases were referred to 44 Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna, as well as the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria.
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He gave the names of those killed as Kefas Peter (39), Solomon Yohana (48), the secondary schoolteacher and father of five, Felix John (46), Garba Barnabas (37) and Ishaku Dauda (26).
Four others who were rushed to the Kafanchan General Hospital were; 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,” Akese explained.
“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,” Asake said.