Mr Aruwan said the troops repelled the bandits around Fondisho general area, along the Kaduna-Zaria road in Igabi local government.
Mr Aruwan explained that the troops made contact with the bandits at Farin Ruwa and neutralised two of them while others were forced to withdraw under the troops’ superior firepower.
Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs in the state, Samuel Aruwan, made the disclosure in a statement.
“The government urged security agencies to ensure a thorough investigation of the suspects,” Mr El-Rufai’s administration said in a statement.
Mr Aruwan said it was in furtherance of the weekend breakthrough recorded by the security forces in its clearance of bandits and terrorist camps around the state.
Though scores of bandits were allegedly killed, only “two general-purpose machine guns (GPMGs), three AK-47 rifles and seven motorcycles were recovered” from their enclave.
The trainees were drawn from the nine local government areas that make up Southern Kaduna.
The affected churches were Maranatha Baptist Church and St. Moses Catholic Church, both located in Rubu.
The governor was said to have reiterated recourse to law as the only acceptable means of redress,and not self help.
The governor said religious protests “will be promptly halted, and conveners prosecuted”.
