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OWO, Nigeria , Jun 6 (AP) \u2014 The gunmen who killed 50 people at a Catholic church in southwestern Nigeria opened fire on worshippers both inside and outside the building in a coordinated attack before escaping the scene, authorities and witnesses said Monday.<\/p>\n
Although Nigerian security forces have not yet identified who carried out Sunday\u2019s attack on St. Francis Church in the town of Owo in relatively peaceful Ondo state, analysts suggested they came from elsewhere in the West African nation, which is plagued by violence from various armed groups, kidnappers and extremists.<\/p>\n
No one has claimed responsibility for the church killings, in which children were among the dead and the gunmen used some kind of explosive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe attack is undoubtedly terrorist in nature, and the scale and brutality suggests it was carefully planned rather than impulsive,\u201d said Eric Humphery-Smith, senior Africa analyst at Verisk Maplecroft risk intelligence company.<\/p>\n
State Police Commissioner Oyeyemi Oyediran said security forces, including the military, pursued the attackers, \u201cbut unfortunately, we could not catch up with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nigeria, which is Africa\u2019s most populous country with 206 million people, has grappled for over a decade with an insurgency in the northeast by Islamic extremist rebels of Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province. The extremists, who have killed more than 35,000 people by a U.N. count, are fighting to establish Shariah law and to stop Western education.<\/p>\n
Ondo, however, has long been considered one of the safer states in the country.<\/p>\n
Sunday Adewale, who works in the palace of the local chief, said the gunmen used the element of surprise to their advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody felt relaxed and had gone to church,\u201d he said. \u201cWithin 30 minutes, they did what they wanted and went away.\u201d<\/p>\n
The attack came as worshippers were celebrating the feast of Pentecost, an important Catholic post-Easter holiday. Bishop Jude Arogundade said some gunmen entered the church while others stayed outside to shoot anyone who fled.<\/p>\n
Steven Omotayo, who lives nearby, heard the gunshots and rushed to the scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw a lot of dead bodies \u2014 both young and old, even children,\u201d he said. \u201cThe people came in and started shooting from the gate.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the church has three entrances and the main entrance was said to have been locked, making it difficult for many to escape.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were just shooting. If they see anyone trying to escape or stand up, they will just shoot the person,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody standing was bombarded with bullets.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Rev. Vincent Anadi said the gunmen also set off some kind of explosive or grenade.<\/p>\n
Many Nigerians expressed shock and anger over the attack in Owo, a small town of traders and government workers located 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Ondo state capital of Akure. The central location of the church raised questions as to how the gunmen got there unnoticed.<\/p>\n
Rahaman Yusuf said many people tried to find out the fate of their relatives after the attack. \u201cSome came only to realize they are dead,\u201d he said, adding that they also went to hospitals to see if their loved ones were among the wounded.<\/p>\n
Workers at the Federal Medical Center in Owo struggled to treat scores of wounded from the attack. The Nigeria Medical Association directed all available doctors in the region to help.<\/p>\n
Some of the wounded were in a \u201cvery bad state\u201d and needed surgery, according to a doctor there who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have attended to a good number of casualties, but what I saw yesterday was far beyond whatever I have seen before in my life,\u201d the doctor said. \u201cThis calamity befell all age grades, from toddlers to the old ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blood supplies at the hospital ran out, and a plea for more has gone out, the doctor added.<\/p>\n
Mahamat Saleh Annadif, head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, described the incident as a \u201cbarbaric terrorist attack\u201d and said he hopes \u201cthe perpetrators of this horrific terrorist act against a church will be swiftly apprehended and brought to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OWO, Nigeria , Jun 6 (AP) \u2014 The gunmen who killed 50 people at a Catholic church in southwestern Nigeria opened fire on worshippers both inside and outside the building in a coordinated attack before escaping the scene, authorities and witnesses said Monday. Although Nigerian security forces have not yet identified who carried out Sunday\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-192406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192406\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}