An expert on Islamist terrorism has expressed alarm after gunmen stormed a church in southwest Nigeria on Pentecost Sunday, killing as many as 50 worshippers, including women and children.
Witnesses said the gunmen detonated explosives before opening fire on the churchgoers. Officials were still calculating the final death toll days later.
The brutal attack on St Francis Xavier Church, in the city of Owo, is but the latest episode in a long line of violence against Christians in Nigeria. Its additional significance, however, is that it took place in a part of the country that had largely escaped such violence in recent years – raising concerns that violence could be spreading to areas once considered safe for Christians.
