Gunmen Blow Up Catholic Church While Attempting To Kidnap Oil Mogul In Taraba

Gunmen have reportedly blown up the Catholic Chapel of St. John’s College, Mutum-Biyu, headquarters of Gassol local government area of Taraba State.

Explosion Rocks Catholic Church In Taraba

It was gathered that the explosion which occurred around 7:20 pm on Sunday destroyed the church building, but no life was lost during the incident.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Principal of the Catholic college, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Vershima Ikyaan said:

“We thank God no life was lost, but the church has been destroyed. Ten minutes after the explosion, we started hearing gunshots in the town.

“The youths and some students were holding a programme in the chapel which is also used as the school hall and they had left the premises shortly before the explosion.

“I want to call for a thorough investigation to unravel those behind the attack and the perpetrators brought to book,” NAN quoted him as saying.

Confirming the incident, Abdullahi Usman, Taraba police spokesperson, said the explosion was caused by some gunmen who attacked the community to kidnap the owner of a petrol station.

Usman said, “What happened was that some kidnappers came to kidnap the owner of one filling station in the town. Unfortunately for them, they could not achieve their mission.

“In the process of running to escape from being trapped, they started shooting sporadically. It was in the process that they threw an explosive into the church to cause fear to enable them to escape.

“The explosive blew up and caused some damages to the building, but luckily nobody was hurt.”

KanyiDaily had also reported how gunmen beheaded a member of Ebubeagu security operative, Sunday Nwafor at Ekpelu in Ikwo local government area of Ebonyi State.