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Gunmen opened fire on worshippers and detonated explosives at a Catholic church in southwestern Nigeria on Sunday, leaving dozens feared dead, state lawmakers said, Associated Press reported.

The attackers targeted the St. Francis Catholic Church in Ondo state just as the worshippers gathered on Pentecost Sunday, legislator Ogunmolasuyi Oluwole said. Among the dead were many children, he said.

The presiding priest was abducted as well, said Adelegbe Timileyin, who represents the Owo area in Nigeria’s lower legislative chamber.

“Our hearts are heavy,” Ondo Governor Rotimi Akeredolu tweeted Sunday. “Our peace and tranquility have been attacked by the enemies of the people.”

Authorities did not immediately release an official death toll. Timileyin said at least 50 people had been killed, though others put the figure higher. Videos appearing to be from the scene of the attack showed church worshippers lying in pools of blood while people around them wailed.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said “only fiends from the nether region could have conceived and carried out such dastardly act,” according to a statement from his spokesman.

“No matter what, this country shall never give in to evil and wicked people, and darkness will never overcome light. Nigeria will eventually win,” said Buhari, who was elected after vowing to end Nigeria’s prolonged security crisis, according to Associated Press.

In Rome, Pope Francis responded to news of the attack.

“The pope has learned of the attack on the church in Ondo, Nigeria and the deaths of dozens of worshippers, many children, during the celebration of Pentecost. While the details are being clarified, Pope Francis prays for the victims and the country, painfully affected at a time of celebration, and entrusts them both to the Lord so that he may send his spirit to console them,” the pope said in a statement issued by the Vatican press office. 

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack on the church. While much of Nigeria has struggled with security issues, Ondo is widely known as one of Nigeria’s most peaceful states. The state, though, has been caught up in a rising violent conflict between farmers and herders.

Nigeria’s security forces did not immediately respond to questions about how the attack occurred or if there are any leads about suspects. Owo is about 345 kilometers (215 miles) east of Lagos, Associated Press reported.

“In the history of Owo, we have never experienced such an ugly incident,” said lawmaker Oluwole. “This is too much.”

Nepal reported 13 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 1, 579 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which nine returned positive. Likewise, 1, 055 people underwent antigen tests, of which four were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that nine infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 110 active cases in the country.

Though monsoon is yet to start in Nepal, pre-monsoon activities are taking place.

The Meteorological Forecasting Division, Department of Hydrology and Meteorology said monsoon is likely to enter the country within the next two or four days.

Meteorologist Hira Bhattarai said that monsoon is expected to set in motion from eastern Nepal within the next few days. It is likely to start from the surroundings of Mechi zone. “Now we are in the monsoon transition phase,” Bhattarai said.

Though rainfall is predicted in some parts of Province 1, Madhesh Province and Bagmati Province today and tomorrow, it is unlikely in the western parts of the country.

In Nepal monsoon tentatively begins on June 10 and it will enter from the eastern part moving towards the west gradually.

Four months: from June to September is defined as the monsoon period in South Asia. During this period, Nepal receives 80 percent of annual rainfall.

Presently, Nepal is under the influence of local winds and the low-pressure area spreading from Uttar Pradesh of India to east Bangladesh.

According to the Division, due to the same atmospheric condition, there is currently generally to completely cloudy in Province 1, Madhesh Province and Bagmati Province and light to moderate rain with thunder and lightning is likely to occur at some places of Province 1, Bagmati Province and Gandaki Province, and at a few places of Madhes Province.

Likewise, tonight there will be partly to generally cloudy in Province 1, Madhes Province, Bagmati Province and Gandaki Province along with partly cloudy to mainly fair in the rest of the country. Light to moderate rain with thunder and lightning is likely to occur at a few places of Province 1, Madhes Province, Bagmati Province and Gandaki Province, the Division said.

Today the minimum temperature of Kathmandu was measured 20 degrees Celsius followed by the 28 degrees maximum.

A massive fire at a container depot near a port city in southeastern Bangladesh killed at least 28 people and injured more than 100 others, officials and local media said Sunday, as firefighters struggled to get the blaze under control, Associated Press reported.

The fire at the BM Inland Container Depot, a Dutch-Bangladesh joint venture, broke out around midnight Saturday following explosions in a container full of chemicals. The cause of the fire could not be immediately determined. The depot is located in Chittagong, 216 kilometers (134 miles) southeast of the capital, Dhaka.

At least five firefighters were among the dead, according to Brig. Gen. Main Uddin, director general of the Bangladesh fire service and civil defense. Another 15 firefighters were being treated for burn injuries, he added. 

Multiple rounds of explosions occurred after the initial blast as the fire continued to spread, Uddin said. Explosives experts from Bangladesh’s military have been called in to assist the firefighters. The explosions shattered the windows of nearby buildings and were felt as far as 4 kilometers away, officials and local media reports said.

Firefighters were still working to bring the fire under control on Sunday.

The death toll reached 28 by late morning on Sunday, according to Ekattor TV station, and the area’s civil surgeon said the number could still rise further. Many of the casualties happened at Chattogram Medical College Hospital, while the rest of the bodies were recovered from the site of the fire, according to the Associated Press.

Many of the containers in the depot are believed to have held chemicals. The depot handles goods for export and import and is located about 20 kilometers from the country’s main Chittagong Seaport.

Bangladesh has a history of industrial disasters, including factories catching fire with workers trapped inside. Monitoring groups have blamed corruption and lax enforcement for deadly incidents over the years. 

Global brands, which employ tens of thousands of low-paid workers in Bangladesh, have come under fire to improve factory conditions in recent years. In the country’s massive garment industry, which employs about 4 million people, safety conditions have improved significantly after massive reforms, but experts say accidents could still occur if other sectors do not make similar changes. 

In 2012, about 117 workers died when they were trapped behind locked exits in a garment factory in Dhaka.

The country’s worst industrial disaster occurred the following year, when the Rana Plaza garment factory outside Dhaka collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people, Associated Press reported. 

In 2019, a blaze ripped through a 400-year-old area cramped with apartments, shops and warehouses in the oldest part of Dhaka and killed at least 67 people. Another fire in Old Dhaka in a house illegally storing chemicals killed at least 123 people in 2010.

In 2021, a fire at a food and beverage factory outside Dhaka killed at least 52 people, many of whom were trapped inside by an illegally locked door, according to the Associated Press.