- The church was attacked during Mass on the Sunday of Pentecost
- The identity and motive of the assailants are unknown
- The media say more than 50 dead, no official figure
- Southwestern Nigeria is not prone to religious violence
OWO, Nigeria, June 6 (Reuters) – Survivors of an attack by unknown assailants on a Nigerian Catholic church were left crying and writhing in pain at a local hospital on Monday after suffering what a doctor described as lacerations, bullet wounds and blast wounds.
At least 50 people, including children, were killed, according to media reports, during the attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in the town of Owo, which took place during Sunday Mass while the faithful celebrated the Christian holiday. of Pentecost. Police have not yet released the number of dead. Read more
“They immediately came in and started shooting everywhere, so many people,” said Alex Michael, who was shot in the leg while protecting his children by hiding them under chairs. He looked stunned as he sat on the hospital bed.
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Around him were other survivors, many with their limbs wrapped in blood-stained bandages. A man writhed and moaned in bed, while a woman wept as she hugged her brother. A 15-year-old victim was lying in silence with a drip in her hand.
Dr. Samuel Aluko, a hospital registrar, said 27 adult victims were being treated in his department for a wide range of injuries, some of which were life-threatening. He said a woman had lost both legs.
The medical director, Dr. Ahmed Lasu, said 13 children had been rushed to hospital, two of whom died on arrival.
Owo is in the state of Ondo in southwestern Nigeria, a part of the country that does not usually experience violent conflicts over religion. Authorities have said nothing about the identity or motive of the attackers.
BODIES WITH BLOOD
The Catholic bishop of the diocese of Ondo, Jude Ayodeji Arogundade, said he had rushed to the church just after the attack.
Victims of gun attack during mass Sunday service receive treatment at Owo Federal Medical Center, Ondo, Nigeria, on June 6, 2022. REUTERS / Temilade Adelaja
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“It was beyond what I had ever imagined. Lots of bodies right there in the church, blood-soaked bodies,” he told AIT television.
Pope Francis and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari were among those who expressed horror on Sunday.
Ondo State Governor Arakunrin Akeredolu ordered on Monday that the state flags should be flown at half-mast for seven days.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu, the favorites in the ruling party’s primaries to select their presidential candidate for next year, both addressed Owo to offer their condolences.
Many shops in the municipality remained closed. Security forces were on the street and helicopters were flying over them.
Southwestern Nigeria is home to the Yoruba ethnic group, which is roughly divided equally between Muslims and Christians. The two communities live together peacefully.
A resident of Owo said some locals blamed the church massacre on members of the Hausa-Fulani ethnic group, who are mostly Muslims and live mostly in northern Nigeria, with communities in other regions.
Neither the police nor state authorities have yet charged any group.
In recent years there has been a growing number of outbreaks of violence among Fulani farmers seeking land to graze their livestock and farmers of other ethnic groups seeking to protect their land.
Population growth and growing aridity in northern Nigeria are among the factors that have driven Fulani pastoralists further and further south, increasing tensions over land use.
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Additional report by Fikayo Owoeye and Camillus Eboh; Written by Estelle Shirbon; Edited by Toby Chopra and Alison Williams
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