At least 50 were killed including many children and dozens injured after unknown gunmen opened fire and detonated explosives on worshippers at a Catholic church in southwestern Nigeria.
The attack began as worshippers gathered for a mass at the St Francis Catholic Church in Ondo state on Sunday.
“No fewer than 50 bodies had been moved to Owo’s Federal Medical Centre and St Louis Catholic Hospital,” a doctor at a hospital in Owo said.
Authorities did not immediately release an official death toll and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Videos appearing to be from the scene of the attack showed church worshippers lying in pools of blood while people around them wailed.
State police spokeswoman Ibukun Odunlami said the death toll was still unclear. “It’s still premature to say exactly how many people were killed. But many worshippers lost their lives while others were injured in the attack.”
Owo is 345km (215 miles) east of Nigeria’s largest city in Nigeria and the second-most populous city in Africa.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the “heinous killing of worshippers”.
“Only fiends from the nether region could have conceived and carried out such dastardly act. No matter what, this country shall never give in to evil and wicked people, and darkness will never overcome the light. Nigeria will eventually win,” the president said in a statement.
Moreover, the Vatican said Pope Francis was praying for the victims of the attack who were “painfully stricken in a moment of celebration.”
