A woman was killed while preaching the gospel in Nigeria on Saturday, police have confirmed.

Deaconess Eunice Olawole, the pastor of Redeemed Christian Church of Nigeria, had her throat slit in the capital Abuja before six o'clock in the morning.

The 41-year-old was found with her head resting on the Bible she had used to speak from, said reports.

Local police have arrested six in connection with the attack.

Her daughter told local press: "Nobody can understand how I feel.

"She is innocent; she didn't do anybody any harm. She uses just her megaphone and Bible, just preaching.

"They just killed her like a chicken and left her there."

Her husband, Olawale Elisha, also a pastor at the church, told local reporters: "My wife always goes out early in the morning for 'Morning Cry.' There was a particular day she went out and she told me that there is a mosque at the back, where they made comments about her preaching. So I just cautioned her.

"This morning, she went around 5am and I was still in bed.

"Two of my boys are footballers, they went to the field to play.

"When they came back, they told me that they heard some footballers saying that some hoodlums had butchered a woman who was preaching early this morning."

Elisha rushed to the scene with his sons but his wife was already dead and had been taken to the local police station.

Police have launched an investigation. A spokesman declined to confirm how many arrests had been made.