Abuja (Nigeria), Aug 18 (AP) Twenty mummified bodies including those of children were discovered in a building in Benin City in southern Nigeria, the country's police said, shocking many in what is usually a busy neighbourhood.

Three suspects were arrested during the raid, Jennifer Iwegbu, a police spokeswoman said in a statement on late Wednesday.

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Armed police officers raided the building in Benin City, the capital of Edo state, acting on intelligence that it was a “suspected ritual shrine,” she said.

“15 mummified male corpses, 3 mummified female corpses, and 2 mummified children corpses were discovered at the scene” just 5 kilometres (3 miles) from the city centre, said Iwegbu.

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Nigeria's security forces have in the past uncovered such shrines used by ritualists and kidnappers but the latest discovery is one of the most shocking in Nigeria in recent years considering the number of victims.

Many residents arrived at the building, expressing shock over what seemed to have been an operation hidden away from the eyes of even nearby neighbours.

It is not immediately clear how long the bodies had been in the building and the suspects are being interrogated, the police said.

All three suspects are young males and a police medical team is part of the investigations, Iwegbu said. “An intensive effort is ongoing to arrest the other fleeing suspects,” she added. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)