GUNMEN have shot dead about 19 people during Bible study at a
church in Nigeria, police have said. Three men are said by
witnesses to have entered the Deeper Life Evangelical church in
Otite, 155 miles south-west of Abuja, the capital of Nigeria,
before the Bible study began on Monday night.
Lt. Col. Gabriel Olorunyomi told Associated Press that the men
used Kalashanikov assault rifles to spray the church with bullets,
killing 15 people at the scene, including the pastor. Four
more people died later in hospital, and many others were wounded.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it is similar
to previous attacks on churches carried out by the radical Islamic
sect Boko Haram (News, 15 June, 4 May). The sect has been blamed
for 660 killings in Nigeria this year alone.
The Chancellor of the diocese of Lagos, Justice Adesola
Oguntade, had told parishioners the day before this latest attack
that the time had come for Christians to be vigilant and take
further attacks by Boko Haram.