We did not kill the Kaduna worshippers says military

The Defence Headquarters (DQ) has reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring the security of citizens in the country and the maintenance of the territory of the country, a statement by Director of Defence Information, Col. MM Yerima said.

The statement was in reaction to reports credited to American based Cable Network News (CNN) and Qatari owned Al Jazeera, that Nigerian Military carried out an early morning attack on Muslim worshippers in a mosque at Dogo Dawa, a village near Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State, where twenty people were allegedly killed by unknown gunmen.

“This is contrary to reports by other local and international media organizations, who reported that the attack was carried out by unknown gunmen”.

“Investigation revealed that the killing was a reprisal attack by a gang of armed robbers who lost some of their members after a recent raid of their hide out through the combined effort of the villagers and the vigilante group in that community.

“The Defence Headquarters wishes to state categorically in the interest of the larger society that no member of the Nigerian Armed Forces was involved in the said attack which occurred in early hours of Sunday the 14th October 2012”.

The DQ reassured the general public of its readiness to offer assistance to the Nigerian Police Force and other Security Agencies whose primary responsibility is the maintenance of law and order in the society.

“We are committed to the defence and protection of our country’s hard earned democracy and more importantly, the Nigerian Armed Forces belong to the Nigerian people and cannot be an instrument of lawlessness and destruction of the very people it has sworn to protect, as alleged by the reports”.

“We urge members of the public to go about their legitimate businesses without any fear of molestation from any quarter, and to also report any breach of peace and security in the society to law enforcement agencies” Yerima siad.

Unknown gunmen had today (Sunday) killed 20 people in north central city of Kaduna. The persons were said to have finished observing their prayers from the mosque when the attackers shot indiscriminately at them.