Gunmen hit Owo weeks after attack on Catholic Church

Nearly two months after close to 40 worshippers were gunned down at a Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, the community has come under a fresh attack.

According to the police, the incident occurred at Craneburg Construction Company, Owo.

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Chief Adetunji Adeleye, Ondo State Commander of Amotekun Corps (the sub-regional security outfit in the southwest), confirmed the attack on Thursday.

He stated that the gunmen shot sporadically into the air and damaged the windshields of two earthmovers at the site.

“I have just left the scene and I realised that the two security men were injured as the attackers shot into the air. They damaged the windshields of two earthmovers of the construction company. The injured men have been taken to a hospital,’’ he stated.

Adeleye, also the Special Adviser to Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu on Security Matters, added that normalcy had since returned to the area.

In a tweet, the state police command said, “Tonight, there was a shooting incident at CRANEBURG CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, Owo, Policemen are currently at the scene, victims have been taken to hospital and they are in stable conditions.”

The Federal Government had linked the fighters of the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) to the attack on the Catholic church, but Governor Rotimi Akeredolu  disagreed.

While briefing State House reporters after a meeting of the National Security Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, had said the government had been able to locate the perpetrators of the Owo attack and zeroed in on ISWAP terrorist group.

The minister, who briefed alongside Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman, said security agencies had been directed to go after the perpetrators of the act and bring them to justice.

The minister said the group was out to pitch Nigerians against one another and make it appear as ethno-religious war.

He said there was no ethnic agenda in the attack, urging Nigerians to unite and defeat the terrorists.