Nigeria, shooting in a Catholic church: “Dozens of deaths feared, including children”

Armed men entered a Catholic church in Owo, in southwestern Nigeria, and opened fire on the faithful, causing “several deaths”. This was announced by the governor of the state of Ondo, Brother Akeredolu, who spoke of a “vile and satanic attack”. After firing on the faithful celebrating Pentecost, the terrorists detonated explosives. No one has currently claimed responsibility for the attack, the first against a church in the South.

An official death toll has not yet been released. According to the US news agency Associated Press, the dead could be “dozens” and among the victims there would be “many children”. The Lagos newspaper,The Nation Newspaper, speaks of at least 50 victims. According to another newspaper, Vanguard news, 25 would be dead. Several were injured, some of whom were transported to hospital in very serious conditions. A local hospital doctor told the British news agency Reuters that “several faithful arrived lifeless”. According to Bbcwhich cites some witnesses, the assailants have also kidnapped a priest and some faithful.

One of the priests of St. Francis Catholic Church, Father Andrew Abayomi, told the Bbc in the Yoruba language that the terrorists struck as the religious service was about to end. “We were about to conclude the service. I even asked people to start leaving, it is at that moment that we began to hear the shots coming from different parts,” said the religious.

“We hid inside the church”, said Father Abayomi, reiterating that “some people had left when the attack took place. We closed ourselves in the church for 20 minutes. When we realized that they were gone , we opened the church and took the victims to the hospital, “he added.

“This country will never give in to evil and darkness will never win light. Nigeria will win in the end,” reads a note from the president’s spokesman. Muhammadu Buhari, relaunched by the local media. Buhari then sent his condolences to the families of the victims and to the Catholic Church and ordered the emergency response of all government relief and emergency agencies to bring aid to the wounded.

“I urge our people to remain calm and alert. Not to take justice for themselves. I have spoken to the heads of the security agencies. I have also been assured that security officers have been deployed to monitor and restore normalcy to the kingdom of Owo “, said Governor Akeredolu using the term that indicates the traditional Nigerian administrative division that provides for the existence of” kingdoms “at the local level.

The state of Ondo is one of the most peaceful in Nigeria and has been little involved in the wave of jihadist violence that has been bleeding the African country for years.