Forty people were killed, including children, in Sunday’s attack on a church in southwestern Nigeria by gunmen armed with explosives, according to a new report released Wednesday evening by local authorities.
The attack occurred during morning service at St Francis Catholic Church in the town of Owo in southwestern Nigeria, usually untouched by jihadists and criminal gangs active in other parts of Nigeria. country.
“The death toll is now 40,” Ondo State Governor Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu said, adding that 61 injured people are still being treated in different hospitals.
A previous report released Tuesday by the authorities reported 22 dead and 58 injured. The new report takes into account the victims transported to private hospitals which had not previously been counted.
The governor did not specify the number of children killed or injured, but according to health authorities contacted by AFP, at least two children died and eleven others were injured. However, this figure might be higher because it only counts victims admitted to the city’s children’s hospital.
The governor described those responsible for this “despicable and satanic attack” as “bloodthirsty terrorists”, without giving further details on the identity of the assailants, who are still wanted.
This massacre caused terror in Nigeria and the indignation of the international community, condemned by the UN and Pope Francis.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who has denounced “the heinous killing of the faithful”, ends his second term in February 2023 under fire from criticism, while Africa’s most populous country is plagued by widespread insecurity.
For twelve years, northeastern Nigeria has been the scene of a jihadist insurgency, which has left more than 40,000 dead and 2 million displaced. The northwest of the country is ravaged by criminal gangs who attack, loot, kidnap and kill. Separatist groups abound in the southeast of the country.
The south-west, where the attack in the church took place, is usually relatively spared from the violence.
