Gunmen killed 16 people when they fired on worshippers at a church in Nigeria’s central Kogi state during a Monday evening service, police said yesterday.
“A group of three unidentified gunmen stormed the Deeper Life Church in Okene and opened fire,” a police spokesman said.
A witness, who asked not to be identified, said about 10 gunmen blocked off the exits to the church before shooting the trapped people inside.
The police spokesman said security forces last month prevented a suspected suicide bomber from detonating an explosive at a different church in Okene, about 225km south of the capital, Abuja. Islamist sect Boko Haram has attacked several churches this year in Nigeria but this attack was further south than its usual targets. – (Reuters)