A Catholic priest Rev Father Alphonsus Bello, has been killed in Malumfashi, Katsina State by bandits.
The police said they are on the trail of the bandits while two suspects have been arrested.
The lifeless body of Rev Father Bello was found in the morning on a farmland behind the Catechetical Training School, Malumfashi.
The training school is said to be part of Sokoto diocese under Bishop Matthew Kukah.
Father Bello’s death followed an earlier report at about 1.35am by the Dean of Malumfashi Deanery, Stephen Ojapah, that the parish house of St. Vincent Ferrer Church was attacked by bandits numbering about 15.
Father Bello and Joe Keke, another reverend father, were taken away by the bandits during the attack.
The Director of Communications for Sokoto diocese, Rev Father Chris Omotosho in a note to the national communications office of the Catholic Secretariat in Abuja, confirmed the incident.
He said the attack by the bandits occurred at about 11.30pm on Thursday and that Father Bello was, until his death, the parish priest of St. Vincent, while Father Keke, 75, was a priest-in-residence.
The whereabouts of the priest is still unknown. The bandits who abducted him are yet to make any contact with his church or family.
The spokesperson for the Katsina Police Command, Gambo Isah, has confirmed the incident, saying operatives of the Command responded to a distress call from the church after the incident.
