Photo taken on June 5, 2022, shows the interior scene of a church attacked by unidentified gunmen in the town of Owo, Ondo state, Nigeria.(Photo: Xinhua)

 

People gather in front of a church that is attacked by unidentified gunmen in the town of Owo, Ondo state, Nigeria, June 5, 2022.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
The number of people killed in an attack Sunday on a church in southwestern Nigeria has risen to 40, Ondo state governor Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu said on Wednesday.

Sixty-one others wounded in the brutal attack are being treated in local hospitals, the governor told the media in Owo, the town where the St. Francis Catholic Church is located.

Akeredolu said 26 have been discharged from hospitals after treatment.

"Those are the figures we have now," the governor said, adding that a memorial park will be built to bury those died in the attack.

The state government also set up a bank account for donations to help the families of the victims and the survivors, he said.

On Monday, Akeredolu declared a seven-day mourning and ordered that flags be flown at half-mast in all public buildings in honor of the victims.

In a statement released on Sunday in Abuja, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the heinous killing of worshippers.