Around 50 people were killed and many others injured after gunmen brutally attacked a Catholic church in the Ondo State of Nigeria during mass on Sunday, 5 June.
A doctor in the hospital in Owo, a town in Nigeria’s southwest region, said that no less than 50 bodies had been moved to the FMC (Federal Medical Center) in Owo and to St. Louis Catholic Hospital, and many others with injuries from bullets and explosives are being treated by medics in the same hospital.
Several local hospitals were making critical pleas for donations of blood, he said.
President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has condemned the brutal attack while calling it heinous. The motive and identity of the attackers are not yet clear.
As per the sources, shooters started to fire at worshippers and discharged explosives inside the church premises. Those who got killed also included children and women.
Police spokesperson for Ondo state, Funmilayo Ibukun Odunlami, stated that there had been an incident at the Saint Francis Catholic Church located in Owo and said police would raise a further statement soon.
Olayemi Adeyemi, a lawmaker in the Ondo, said it was supposed to have been carried out by ethnic Fulani terrorists, occasionally referred to as bandits, that have staged severe attacks, especially in northern Nigeria and other parts of the country.
The most populous country of Africa has witnessed kidnappings and attacks for ransom by armed gangs, mainly in the northwest region. Such attacks are rarely found in southwestern Nigeria.
Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, Ondo state governor, cut short a trip to the capital city Abuja and came back to Ondo after the happening of the attack.
“We shall devote every available resource to hunt down these attackers and make them pay for the mass killing,” he said in a statement.
