On Sunday, gunmen opened fire on a Catholic church in Ondo state, southwestern Nigeria, killing many people, according to local media.
“Several worshippers were brought in dead,” a doctor at a hospital in Owo, a town in the state in Nigeria’s southwest, told reporters.
“There was an incident today at the Saint Francis Catholic Church in Owo,” Funmilayo Ibukun Odunlami, a police spokeswoman for Ondo state, said, adding that authorities would publish a statement soon.
Gunmen opened fire on worshippers and detonated explosives at the church, according to local media.
Armed gangs have attacked and kidnapped for ransom in Africa’s most populous country, especially in the northwest. In southwestern Nigeria, such attacks are uncommon.
Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, the governor of Ondo state, said he was returning to the state after the “unprovoked attack and slaughter of innocent persons in Owo.”
“We will devote every available resource to tracking down and punishing these assailants,” he added in a statement.
