One person was killed while nine others sustained injuries when a masquerade and his followers clashed with Muslims in front of a mosque in Osogbo, Osun State.

Witnesses say the masquerade and his cohorts, in company of four police escorts, killed Moshood Salawudeen during attack on Sunday and also damaged windows and doors of the mosque located at the Oluade Aranyin compound while worshippers were praying under the canopy, per a Punch newspaper report.

Giving an account of the incident, the Chief Imam of the mosque, Quoseem Yunus denied any previous misunderstanding with the masquerade. He claimed he and his followers had initially passed the same area without any trouble.

Mr Yunus said: “We were outside our mosque, having special prayers on Sunday when the masquerade and his men appeared. Four policemen were with them.

“They passed us by and moved down. They later returned to where we all sat and started pelting us with stones. They later shot at us and used machete on us. 

One person was killed. We have taken the corpse to UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital Morgue. Nine others are receiving treatment in other hospitals in Osogbo.”

Police spokeswoman in Osun, Yemisi Opalola, told Peoples Gazette on Monday that the incident was a clash between the masqueraders and the Islamic worshippers.

“Both the masqueraders and the Muslims had fracas, they fought. In the process, one person died. The identification of the person is not yet known, but the Commissioner of Police, Olokode Taoheed Olawale has called the two parties in order to know the root cause of the fracas,” Ms Opalola said.

She however didn’t respond to the question regarding the involvement of the four-policeman escort in the attack.