At least 50 people including women and children have been reported dead following gunmen attack in a Catholic church in Owo, Ondo State southwest Nigeria.
According to eyewitnesses report, the rampaging gunmen fired at worshippers during mass service on Sunday, and detonated explosives at St Francis Catholic Church in the town of Owo.
The motive of the attackers who are yet to be identified have not yet been established.
The Nigerian authorities have not yet given official details of the attack but police spokesperson for Ondo state, Funmilayo Odunlami, said an official statement would soon be issued by the Police.
One of the Catholic Priest, Reverend Augustine Ikwu, said the bishop and priests from the parish had survived the attack uninjured
“It is so sad that while the Holy Mass was going on, unknown gunmen attacked St Francis Catholic Church…leaving many feared dead and many others injured and the Church violated,” said Catholic Church spokesman in Nigeria. He said.
A doctors at a hospital in Owo told newsmen that at least 50 bodies were brought in to two hospitals in the town after the attack. The doctor, who pleaded to remain anonymous, also asked for blood donations to treat the wounded.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the attack, calling it “heinous”, even as Pope Francis is said to be praying for the victims he referred to as being “painfully stricken in a moment of celebration”.
Ondo state governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu is said to have also cut short his trip to the capital Abuja after the attack. “We shall commit every available resource to hunt down these assailants and make them pay,” he said in a statement.
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