Again, gunmen attack Church in Maiduguri

Posted by admin Borno, State News Monday, January 10th, 2011

A police constable attached to Cocin Church at Gomari ward of Maiduguri metropolis, Mr. P .C. Amos, was shot dead last night by suspected serial killers that had been terrorising the state since the Boko Haram crisis in 2009.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that residents of Gomari Airport in Maiduguri metropolis, were thrown into confusion following shooting that also left two others injured.

Residents of the area told our correspondent that a security man, Mallam Akilahyel, who was recently employed by the church, was injured by the gunmen.

According to them, the gunmen who came in a vehicle, parked close to the front of the church, opened fire at the two policemen, who were assigned to guard the church, leaving two persons injured. They are currently receiving treatment at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

It will be recalled that since the Christmas eve attacks, during which some Churches in the state were burnt by suspected members of the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram, the state commissioner of police, Mohammed Jinjiri Abubakar, had directed all divisional police officers to deploy their men in all churches in the metropolis.

When Nigerian Tribune visited the scene of the incident, a member of the church said that, “we were staying in front of our house after we took our dinner and, suddenly, we saw some people who came in car with tinted glass and parked close to the church. They stayed inside the car and we thought they were looking for somebody in the area after 10 minutes, all we could hear was exchange of gunfire between them and the policemen attached to the church”.

According to him, “the gunfire went on for about seven minutes, and after the gunmen executed their mission, they entered their vehicle and ran away without being caught. When some of us went to see what happen, we just saw one of the policemen in the pool of his blood before he eventually died”.

Though the pastor of the church, Elishah Gufwan, was not available as of press time, members of the church expressed dismay over the rampant killings and burning of churches in the state, and call on the state and the Federal Government to take a decisive action to address this ugly trend.

-Tribunewp_posts