Two people \u2014 including the wife of the resident priest \u2014 were killed when armed assailants stormed St. Andrews Anglican Church, Isiokwe, in Lilu community, Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, launching a violent attack that left the church compound in ruins.<\/p>\n
Lilu, a border town between Anambra and Imo states, has endured months of terror from armed groups, with Sunday\u2019s attack marking another grim episode in the region’s insecurity. Authorities have yet to give updates on the condition or whereabouts of the church priest.<\/p>\n
The attack, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday, sent shockwaves through the community. Witnesses said the gunmen opened fire as worshippers prepared for service, killing the priest\u2019s wife and another church member, injuring several others, and setting multiple buildings ablaze. The priest\u2019s residence, several vehicles, and part of the main church building were completely razed.<\/p>\n
When reporters visited the church on Monday, the premises were deserted, with burnt structures and scattered belongings reflecting the scale of destruction.<\/p>\n
A resident, according to The PUNCH, described the incident as \u201ca brutal attack on a holy day,\u201d lamenting that such violence in a Christian community had drawn little public attention. \u201cThey invaded the church and started shooting\u2026 They murdered the wife of the church priest and one other person. They burnt down buildings, vehicles \u2014 everything,\u201d the witness said.<\/p>\n
Police authorities confirmed the assault, though initially stating that one person had been killed. The spokesperson for the Anambra State Police Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, said Commissioner of Police Ikioye Orutugu had ordered intensified intelligence operations and the deployment of a joint security team to the area.<\/p>\n
Ikenga described the attack as \u201cheinous and abominable,\u201d adding that it was an affront to the community\u2019s values and freedom of worship. He assured residents that the assailants would be tracked down and brought to justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe command will not allow criminals to instil fear or destabilise the peace we are working tirelessly to maintain,\u201d he said, urging locals to remain calm and assist security agencies with information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two people \u2014 including the wife of the resident priest \u2014 were killed when armed assailants stormed St. Andrews Anglican Church, Isiokwe, in Lilu community, Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, launching a violent attack that left the church compound in ruins. Lilu, a border town between Anambra and Imo states, has endured months […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":91941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5807,7],"tags":[71,7635,7633,4036,899,7634],"class_list":["post-96462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-crime-and-violence","category-news","tag-anambra","tag-ikenga","tag-lilu","tag-priest","tag-wife","tag-worshipper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/91941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}