All the victims are Christians of Catholic and ECWA dominations.
Amass burial has been held for 40 residents killed by bandits in Mallagum and Sogwon communities in Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
Terrorists had on Tuesday attacked the two villages, killed a number of residents, burnt down houses, foodstuffs and properties worth millions of naira.
Family, friends and well-wishers wept profusely as those killed were buried on Thursday.
The Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU) has alleged that within 6 years,148 communities were attacked in Southern Kaduna while 200,000 natives were displaced.
Tears As Families Give Mass Burial To 40 Christians Killed By Terrorists In Southern Kaduna
They gathered at Government Secondary School, Mallagum to pay their last respect to the victims.
The Anglican Bishop of Kafanchan Diocese, Danladi Kundi led the burial after a prayer session by the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese.
Many communities in Kaduna have been living at the mercy of terrorists and bandits, who have been killing, maiming and kidnapping residents with reckless abandon.
Some victims were also buried on Wednesday.
SOKAPU, at a press conference in Kaduna , said killings by terrorists in the region was outright ethnic cleansing of the people resident in the area.
Speaking on the impact of banditry and terrorism in the area in the last six years, the SOKAPU President, Hon. Jonathan Asake said 200, 000 of his people were displaced and over 148 communities were destroyed by the bandits and terrorists.
According to him, “we are calling on Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) Foreign Missions, European Union, United Nations, among others, to beam their searchlight on the atrocities, crimes against humanities, ethnic cleansing being perpetrated against the people of Southern Kaduna.”
“These horrendous attacks on Kaduna State, especially the southern flank, have become glaring, with both government and security agencies seeming incapable of reining in the activities of these vicious bandits.’
“From the ongoing, it is clear that the bandits/terrorists have taken over many villages and town and are closing in on the Kaduna city centre.”
“SOKAPU believes that these bandits may soon take over the Kaduna metropolis, including the Kaduna State Government House if the government continues to show a lack of capacity or willingness to stop them.”
“Mineral deposits and green areas for cattle rearing in the entire Middle Belt are responsible for killing in Southern Kaduna. We have concluded plans to take over our ancestral land because what is going on is ethnic cleansing in Southern Kaduna and the entire Middle Belt. Several communities have been attacked in Southern Kaduna at genocidal proportion “
“It is very clear that Kaduna State is under siege by a combination of killer Fulani herdsmen, kidnappers, bandits and other criminal groups who have continued to terrorise peaceful, vulnerable and defenceless Nigerians resident in the state.”
“There is no single day that passes without an ugly incident of attacks and massacre in rural communities or mass abductions of people in both rural communities and suburbs of urban areas. These ceaseless attacks have continued to leave in their trail tales massacre, maiming, destruction of property and crops, raping of women and mass displacement of persons from their homelands.”
“The spates of insecurity shredding Kaduna State recently hit the peak when on March 28, 2022, an Abuja-Kaduna bound train was bombed, less than 48 hours after the Kaduna Airport was attacked and an official of the airport killed.”
“During the attack on the train, no less than eight passengers were murdered. The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) is yet to account for the whereabouts of 165 passengers that were on the ill-fated trip. While mourning the attacks on the train and the airport, another group of bandits launched yet another deadly assault on a military base located in Pole Wire Village in Birnin Gwari LGA of Kaduna State, killing 12 soldiers and injuring 19 military personnel.”
“Just this week on Monday, April 25, 2022, heavily armed killer Fulani herdsmen in their large numbers riding on motorbikes invaded some communities in Kamaru ward, Chawai Chiefdom of Kauru Local Government Area where no fewer than 25 persons were murdered in cold blood.”
