7 killed, houses burnt as violence erupts in El-Rufai's State

Violence erupted in a Kaduna community on Monday as houses and cars were set ablaze.

Local reports say Kasuwar Magani community ‎in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State was the theater of pandemonium as many shops were looted and razed, leaving residents to scamper in different directions for safety.

A youth leader in Kaduna, Dan Najeriya, told Premium Times that the crisis has a religious undertone.

”Some girls wanted to change their religion but were scolded by some youth in the community,” Najeriya said.

Tempers flared thereafter and that snowballed into the crisis.

Kasuwar Magani lies some 31 kilometres from the Kaduna metropolis.

Latest reports say law enforcement has been deployed to the troubled communityto keep the peace.

Seven killed

“I can confirm to you that shops and houses have been set ablaze by a group of youth in the area.

“Many people have been injured and we also feared some even lost their lives because I saw three dead bodies with my eyes,”Dan Najeriya added.

Channels TV reports that the crisis arose after youths belonging to two different religious groups in Kasuwa Magani village clashed. It added that as many as seven persons were killed during the crisis.

Spokesman for the Kaduna State Police Command, Mr Aliyu Mukhtar, confirmed the figures to ChannelsTV.

Kaduna Governor El-Rufai has asked security agencies to get to the bottom of the incident and rein in perpetrators.

At the time of filing this, relative calm appears to be returning to the community.

Kaduna has always been a flash point for religious tinged violence. Hundreds of people were reportedly killed after herdsmen attacked communities in September of 2017

There have also been incessant conflicts between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in Southern Kaduna.