By CHARLES IWUOHA

Hoodlums on Wednesday morning invaded an Assemblies of God Church in Abakaliki, raped one of the ladies, and shot another on her laps.

The youths, belonging to the drama wing of the church, were said to be having an all-night rehearsal in preparation for a drama programme slated for Friday when they were attacked by hoodlums.

The attack was said to have occurred between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m.

A source said while they raped one of the girls, they shot another, who resisted attempts to have carnal knowledge of her, on the laps

They also reportedly stole some equipment belonging to the church.

Other youths in the same programme were said to have run away during the incident.

When journalists visited the church, the pastor-in-charge was not around, to but some elders confirmed the report

One of them said: “Our pastor who is in charge of this place is not available now, he stayed awake all through the night that this thing happened and he is down now.

“However the matter has been reported to the police and the girls have been taken to hospital for treatment.”

Police lmagemaker, Loveth Odah, said she was yet to be briefed about the incident at the time of filling the report.