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LAGOS, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The police in Nigeria on Sunday confirmed that eight worshipers were killed and 18 others injured in an early morning attack on St. Philip Catholic Church in Ozubulu area of the southeast Anambra State.

State police chief Garba Umar told reporters in Awka, the state capital that the remains of the dead had been deposited at Nnamdi Azikwe University Teaching Hospital.

Umar also said the injured were taken to the hospital in Nnamdi, the state's second largest city.

He said that so far no arrest has been made and preliminary investigations by the police revealed that the attack was carried out by natives of the area.

The motives behind the shooting tragedy remains unclear.

Earlier, an eyewitness who requested anonymity, had said that scores of worshipers were killed during the incident after gunmen entered the St. Philips Catholic Church in Ozubulu area of the state during the 5:45 a.m. (loal time) mass, identified a particular man, and shot him.

He said the gunmen later went on rampage and shot at the remaining worshipers numbering over 100, noting that scores of people were killed in the church while other critically injured worshipers died on the way to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching Hospital.

Describing the act as sacrilegious, the commissioner of police said it was wrong for the perpetrators of the act to extend their quarrel into the church.

He said the police had launched a manhunt on those behind the act and gave an assurance that everybody behind the act would be brought to justice.

Umar described any insinuation that the attack was carried out by Boko Haram elements as false and urged the people to go about their normal businesses. He said the police were on top of the situation.