50 people including women and children have been reported dead after Suspected terrorists attacked a Catholic church in southwest Nigeria during mass on Sunday. 

According to the police spokesperson for Ondo state where the incident happened Funmilayo Ibukun Odunlami, the gunmen opened fire outside and inside the church building, killing and injuring worshippers.

However, She did not state the number of casualties at St Francis Catholic Church in the town of Owo but added the police were investigating the cause of the attack.

Leaders led by the Ondo state Governor Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, who visited the scene of the attack and injured persons in the hospital described the Sunday incident as unfortunate and that should not be allowed to happen again.

No terror group has come out to claim the attack even as the government is speeding up the investigations.

Religious leaders on their side led by Nigeria’s Catholic Church spokesman Reverend Augustine Ikwu, have also come out to condemn the incident terming it inhuman and unacceptable in the society and before the eyes of God.

 Rev Augustine said that the attack is so sad and that many are feared dead and many others injured and the Church has been violated.

The hospital management in Owo has reported that at least 50 bodies are laying in their facility. The doctor, who sought anonymity also said there was a need for blood donations to treat the injured.

President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the attack, calling it "heinous", and the Vatican said Pope Francis is praying for the victims who had been "painfully stricken in a moment of celebration".

Nigeria is battling an Islamist insurgency in the northeast and armed gangs who carry out attacks and kidnappings for ransom, mostly in the northwest.