Gun attack on church in southwest Nigeria leaves 21 dead
Gulf Times
File photo for representation.
Gunmen killed at least 21 people, including children, in an attack on a Catholic church in southwest Nigeria on Sunday, local officials said, in violence that drew widespread international condemnation.
The bloodshed at St Francis Catholic Church in Owo town during a service was a rare assault in Nigeria's usually safer southwest and shocked a country grown used to jihadist assaults and mass kidnappings in the north.
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.