Gunmen stormed an evangelical church in central Nigeria, cut the electricity and opened fire once the building was plunged into darkness, killing 19 people, including the pastor, officials said Tuesday. Residents in the town of Okene in Kogi state, where the church was attacked late Monday, reported fresh gun battles on a main commercial street on Tuesday, but the circumstances were not immediately clear. Officials said it was too early to say who carried out the church raids.
Kogi, south-west of the capital Abuja, has not been hit particularly hard by the Islamists, although members of the group are believed to have come from the ethnically diverse area. In mid-July, a bomb went off near another church in Okene, but caused no casualties, while in April, the military said it had discovered a Boko Haram bomb making factory in Kogi, in the town of Ogaminana.
The Deeper Life Church in Okene was attacked by "unknown gunmen" at roughly 8:20 pm on Monday, said Lieutenant Colonel Gabriel Olorunyomi, head of a military task force in Kogi. Before firing on worshippers who had come for a regular Monday evening service, two of the three assailants knocked out the building's generator, state police spokesman Simon Ile told AFP.
When military personnel arrived at the scene, they "saw 15 people dead, including the pastor," said Olorunyomi, who added that four more people later died from their wounds. Several others were injured. Ile told AFP there were no early indications regarding the culprits.
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