Lagos: Gunmen with explosives stormed a Catholic church and opened hearthplace in southwest Nigeria on Sunday, killing “many” worshippers and wounding others, the authorities and police stated.
The violence at St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo city in Ondo State erupted at some point of the morning carrier in a unprecedented assault withinside the southwest of Nigeria, in which jihadists and crook gangs perform in different regions.
Pope Francis stated in a declaration he had found out of the “loss of life of dozens of faithful”, many children, at some point of the party of the Christian excursion of the Pentecost.
“While the information of the incident are being clarified, Pope Francis prays for the sufferers and for the us of a,” he stated.
No organization claimed duty for the assault.
The reasons and the precise loss of life toll have been now no longer at once clear, however President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the “heinous killing of worshippers”.
State police spokeswoman Ibukun Odunlami stated the gunmen additionally attacked the church with explosives, leaving an unknown wide variety of worshippers dead.
“It’s nevertheless untimely to mention precisely what number of human beings have been killed. But many worshippers misplaced their lives whilst others have been injured withinside the assault,” she instructed AFP.
A spokesman for Ondo State governor’s workplace stated they could now no longer be giving an reliable casuality parent for the moment.
But a witness, who gave his call as Abayomi, instructed AFP at the least 20 worshippers had died withinside the assault.
‘Vile and satanic assault’
“I turned into passing thru the vicinity after I heard a noisy explosion and gunshots withinside the church,” he stated.
He stated he noticed at the least 5 gunmen at the church premises earlier than he ran away for safety.
Ondo nation governor Oluwarotimi Oluwarotimi Akeredolu stated Sunday’s assault turned into a “vile and satanic assault” and appealed to the safety forces to tune down the assailants.
The assault comes an afternoon earlier than the ruling APC celebration begins offevolved primaries for its candidate withinside the 2023 election to update Buhari, a former navy commander who steps down after phrases in workplace.
Security might be a primary venture for whoever wins the race to manipulate Africa’s maximum populous us of a and the continent’s biggest economy.
Gun and bomb assaults are uncommon in Ondo nation and different components of the southwest, however Nigeria’s navy is fighting a 12-year-antique jihadist insurgency withinside the northeast, gangs withinside the northwest and separatist agitation withinside the southeast.
Parts of northwest and north-principal Nigeria specially were more and more more plagued through closely armed gangs who raid villages and goal groups and colleges for mass kidnapping assaults.