Some yet-to-be-identified hoodlums yesterday att.acked St. Andrews Anglican Church, Isiokwe in Lilu community in Anambra State and k!lled two persons including the priest’ wife
They burnt vehicles and the cleric’s apartment was not spared too.
Some eyewitnesses and residents in the area confirmed to Punch Online that the incident, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday, disrupted church activities and sent panic in the area.
One of the sources said, “A brutal att.ack occurred at the St. Andrews Anglican Church, Isiokwe in Lilu community of Ihiala LGA in the early hours of Sunday.
“The heavily armed hoodlums invaded the church as worshippers were getting ready for Sunday activity and started sho.oting, setting properties on the church premises, including buildings, ablaze.
“Unfortunately, they brutally mvrdered the wife of the church priest and one other person. They also injured many others, razed down the priest’s house to ashes, burnt down some church vehicles and other church properties, including a part of the main church building.
“This wicked act on a holy day in a Christian church and in a Christian community has not had a single mention from those who are fast to share happenings from elsewhere.”
The spokesman for the Anambra State Police Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the development on Monday.
Ikenga added that the state Commissioner of Police, CP Ikioye Orutugu, has intensified intelligence-driven operations, deployed the joint security team and strengthened surveillance across the area.
He said, “The Commissioner of Police, Anambra State Police Command, CP Ikioye Orutugu, has condemned in the strongest terms the attack in the morning of December 7, 2025, carried out by armed criminals, which resulted in the de.ath of one person.
“Some persons were inflicted with serious injuries, including the church building partially burnt, and other properties destroyed at a church premises in Lilu, Ihiala Local Government Area of the state.
“The CP states that this heinous and abominable act, committed against innocent worshippers, is not only an as.sault on the community, but a grave affront to our shared values of peace, sanctity of life, and freedom of worship.
“The command extends its deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and to the entire Lilu community and assures the public that the Police shall relentlessly hunt down the perpetrators of this crime.”
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