INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Gunmen attacked a Catholic church in southwest Nigeria during mass on Sunday, killing at least 50 people including women and children,
according to a hospital doctor and media reports.The gunmen shot at people outside and inside the church building, killing and injuries
worshippers, said Funmilayo Ibukun Odunlami, police spokesperson for Ondo state.She did not say how many people were killed or injured at St
Francis Catholic Church in the town of Owo but added police were investigating the cause of the attack.Ondo state Governor Arakunrin
Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, who visited the scene of the attack and injured persons in hospital, described Sunday&s incident as &a great
massacre& that should not be allowed to happen again.The identity and motive of the attackers was not immediately clear.&It is so sad that
while the Holy Mass was going on, unknown gunmen attacked St Francis Catholic Church…leaving many feared dead and many others injured and
the Church violated,& said Catholic Church spokesman in Nigeria, Reverend Augustine Ikwu.Ikwu said the bishop and priests from the parish
had survived the attack unharmed.A doctor at a hospital in Owo told Reuters that at least 50 bodies had been brought into two hospitals in
The doctor, who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the press, also said there was a need for blood donations to
treat the injured.President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the attack, calling it &heinous&, and the Vatican said Pope Francis was praying for
the victims who had been &painfully stricken in a moment of celebration&.Nigeria is battling an Islamist insurgency in the northeast and
armed gangs who carry out attacks and kidnappings for ransom, mostly in the northwest.In the southwest, attacks such as this are rare.The
post At least 50 killed in massacre at Catholic church in southwest Nigeria first appeared on Ariana News.
