Abuja, June 5

At least 50 people were killed and others injured after gunmen attacked a Catholic church in Nigeria’s Ondo state during mass on Sunday, a doctor and local media reported.

A doctor at a hospital in Owo, a city in Nigeria’s southwestern state, told Reuters that as many as 50 bodies had been transferred to Owo Federal Medical Center (FMC) and the St. Louis Catholic Hospital.

President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the attack, calling it “heinous”. The identity and motive of the attackers were not immediately clear.

Local media said gunmen fired on worshipers and detonated explosives at the church. Among those killed were women and children.

Funmilayo Ibukun Odunlami, the Ondo State Police Spokesperson, only said that there was an incident at Saint Francis Catholic Church in Owo and said the police would issue a new statement soon.

Africa’s most populous country has been the scene of attacks and kidnappings for ransom by armed gangs, mainly in its northwest.

Such attacks are rare in southwestern Nigeria.

Ondo State Governor Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu cut short a trip to the capital Abuja and returned to Ondo after the attack. “We will commit all available resources to tracking down these attackers and making them pay,” he said in a statement. Reuters