A newlywed groom has been shot dead and his pregnant wife abducted by bandits in Jere town, a community along the dreaded Abuja-Kaduna highway in Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
According to Daily Trust, a resident of the community, Hassan Adamu Jere said the bandits attacked the home of the newly wedded couple and attempted to abduct the bride but the groom resisted.
Jere added that while dragging his bride with the bandits, the bandits 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.
The bandits also abducted four members of the family of a former commissioner of Poverty Alleviation in Kaduna State, Abdulrahman Ibrahim Jere.
Daily Trust reported that the over 50 bandits who invaded Jere community on motorcycles were said to have moved from house-to-house but residents said it appeared they had targeted the home of a former Commissioner, Abdulrahman Ibrahim Jere who was out of town at the time.
The gunmen, however, abducted his wife, baby girl, his younger sister and his wife’s sister.
Another resident, Ibrahim Salisu said the community would lodge a formal protest against security agents in Jere, adding that their action portrays them as people who “are either colluding with the bandits or people who do not care about the security of the people.”
Salisu 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 the bandits.
The State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Jalige, was yet to comment on the attack as at the time of filing this report.