Lagos: Gunmen killed at least 21 people, including children, in an attack on a Catholic church in southwest Nigeria on Sunday, local officials said.
The bloodshed at St Francis Catholic Church in Owo town during a service was a rare assault in Nigeria’s usually safer southwest.
Richard Olatunde, spokesman for the Ondo State governor’s office, told AFP that dynamite exploded inside the church before gunmen opened fire on worshippers attending the service.
“They did not even enter the church, they were shooting through the windows,” he said, confirming a death toll of 21 people.
National Emergency Management Agency local representative Olanrewaju Kadiri said 22 people were killed, including several children, with another 40 people wounded.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo arrived on Monday to visit some of the wounded, an AFP reporter in Owo said.
The state government declared a seven-day mourning period for the victims, and ordered the national flag to be flown at half-mast in Ondo.
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) on Monday also appealed to residents to donate blood for the wounded.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack and the motives were not clear.
One witness told AFP he saw at least five gunmen on the church premises.
“I was passing through the area when I heard a loud explosion and gunshots inside the church,” the witness, who gave his name as Abayomi, told AFP.
