According to reports, the member of the church who was killed was a medical doctor.

A witness, Jacob Bala said the bandits stormed the church at about 9am when church service was going on and opened fire on the worshippers.

He said the bandits killed his uncle, Zakariya Dogonyaro, a staff of the Kaduna ministry of health, adding that five other people, including three of his relatives, were abducted.

Bala said, “Church service was going on when gunmen just came and surrounded the church and started shooting. They came at about 9am. They were many and they were riding on motorcycles. They started shooting indiscriminately as we scampered for safety.

“My uncle, Dr Zechariah Dogonyaro, was killed instantly. He works with the Kaduna state ministry of health. They shot him and he died on the spot.

“They kidnapped five people, including my late brother’s wife, my step mother, my elder brother’s daughter and two other people.”

However, the Kaduna state government has condemned the attack on worshipers in the state, describing the attack as a shocking act of depraved persons far-removed from humanity. 

In a statement signed by the state Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, the state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai said "attacking innocent worshipers who were exercising their natural and lawful right to assemble in worship, represented the worst kind of evil."

The state government also confirmed that bandits killed six people in Birnin Gwari LGA and one person in Kachia LGA.

The names of the victims were given as Bala Gwamna, Kasage Ali, Mai Jakki, Makeri Kugu, Haruna Kawu, Ali Agaji and Mrs Rahila Dauda.

Aruwan also said a seven-year-old, Abubakar Sarki Musa, was killed in Igabi LGA.

According to the statement, Musa, whose body was found in an uncompleted building in Hayin Danmani area, Rigasa, Igabi LGA was killed by one Saddique Umar, an 18-year-old resident of the area.

Umar was said to have confessed to killing him, after luring the boy into the deserted building in a bid to steal a phone placed in his possession.