Suspected kidnappers blow up Taraba catholic church

The Catholic Chapel of St. John’s College, Mutum-Biyu,Gassol LGA of Taraba state has been blown up by suspected kidnappers.

The Principal of the College, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Vershima Ikyaan, said that the explosion went up at about 7:20 pm.

He said, “We thank God no life was lost, but the Church has been destroyed. About 10 minutes after the explosion in the school, we started hearing gunshots in the town.

“The youths and some students were holding a programme in the Chapel which doubled as the school hall and had left the premises shortly before the explosion.

“This is a religious premises and if attacks like these are happening to the Church, where will people run to?

“I want to call for a thorough investigation to unravel those behind the attack and the perpetrators brought to book”.

The Taraba State Police Command Public Relations Officer, DSP Abdullahi Usman, confirmed the attack on the catholic church in a telephone interview with The Punch.

“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.

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“In the process of running to escape begin trapped, they started shooting sporadically to escape.

“It was in the process that they threw an explosive into the church to cause fear to enable them to escape. The explosion blew up and caused some damages to the building,” Usman said.