Gunmen Kill Catholic Priest, Abduct Another In Katsina
One Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Alphonsus Bello, has been
reportedly killed while another priest, Rev. Fr. Joe Keke, was kidnapped by
unidentified gunmen at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church Malunfashi, Katsina
state.
It was gathered that the gunmen, on Thursday night, stormed
the Catholic parish and started shooting into the air, leaving some people
injured in the process.
The National Social Communications Director, Catholic
Secretariat of Nigeria, Padre Mike Umoh, who confirmed the incident, said the
suspected bandits dumped the lifeless body of Fr Alphonsus Bello in the
farmland behind the Catechetical Training School, Malunfashi while the
whereabouts of Fr. Joe Keke was still unknown.
Meanwhile, a reliable source from the Catholic diocese of
Sokoto said the deceased priest belonged to the Kaduna Archdiocese, but was on
Secondment in Sokoto Diocese and deployed to the Malumfashi parish in Katsina.
