Christians chased out of their homes by Muslims during bloody riots in Nigeria's northern city of Kano boarded buses to leave town as fresh clashes broke out on Friday.
Rioting Muslim mobs have burned and hacked to death hundreds of people, mostly Christians, since Tuesday in reprisals for the slaying of hundreds of Muslims in central Nigeria 10 days ago.
"People are saturated with fear, especially today being Friday, so they are leaving," said Adamson Gbangange, from Gombe in eastern Nigeria, as he boarded a bus out of Kano.
Clashes erupted again in the Badawa district of Nigeria's second largest city on Friday, hours after the end of Muslim Friday prayers, aid workers said. Several blood-soaked victims bearing head wounds arrived at Kano's main hospital.
More than 10,000 Christians, many hungry and penniless, camped in police barracks across the city to escape rampaging youths armed with knives and petrol.
"There are so many people that our 20 bags of rice cannot even give them one meal," said Reverend Andrew Ubah, the head of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Kano.
At least 1,000 Nigerians have probably died in religious fighting across the oil exporting country in the last two weeks, although officials decline to provide credible death tolls.
Ubah estimated that 1,000 people had been killed in the Kano riots alone, while hospital workers spoke of hundreds dead. The official death toll stands at 30.
An aid worker said she saw three truck loads of corpses delivered to Kano's main hospital.
"On Wednesday evening they brought in two trailer loads of bodies. There was one trailer load the previous day. A lot of people were killed. I think it is even more than 600," said the medical worker, asking not to be named.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was