The United Arab Emirates has strongly criticised the terrorist attack in which over 50 people got killed, with many others being severely injured as gunmen targeted a church in southwestern Nigeria.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFAIC), in a statement, asserted the country’s strong condemnation of these criminal acts and its enduring rejection of all types of terrorism and violence strived at destabilising security in violation of humanitarian principles and values.
Shooters with guns and explosives stormed a Catholic church and started a fire in southwest Nigeria on Sunday, killing several worshippers and injuring others, the police and government said.
The brutality at St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, located in the Ondo state, was caused during the morning service in a rare shooting in southwest Nigeria, where criminals and militant gangs operate in other regions.
The UAE ministry has also expressed its sincere consolations and sympathy to the Nigerian government and citizens and the families of the victims of this brutal crime and its wishes for a quick recovery for all those injured.
As per Adelegbe Timileyin, who represents the Owo area in Nigeria’s lower legislative chamber, the presiding priest was also kidnapped.
A doctor in the hospital in Owo, a town in Nigeria’s southwest area, said that no less than 50 dead bodies had been moved to the FMC (Federal Medical Center) in Owo and St. Louis Catholic Hospital, and medics in the same hospital are treating many others with injuries from bullets and explosives.
President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has criticised the vicious attack while calling it blatant. The reason and identity of the attackers are not yet apparent.
Police spokesperson for Ondo state, Funmilayo Ibukun Odunlami, said that there had been a happening at the Saint Francis Catholic Church located in Owo and said police would raise a further comment soon.