The death toll from violence in Nigeria has risen to at least 41 following a series of bomb blasts, attacks on churches and reprisals, police said yesterday, as soldiers patrolled to prevent further unrest.
A number of houses were also burned when clashes broke out on Sunday in the wake of Christmas Eve bomb blasts in the central city of Jos that killed dozens, state police commissioner Abdulrahman Akano said.
However, he denied a community leader’s claim that 14 bodies had been recovered following Sunday’s clashes. The community leader also said 23 houses were found burned along with a church and a mosque.
Photo: REUTERS
Mohammed Shittu, a leader in the Hausa Muslim community in Jos who headed a search and rescue team, said 14 bodies were recovered and 23 houses were burned following Sunday’s clashes. He said another 33 people were wounded.
A mass burial was being prepared for the victims, he said.
Christian leaders in the area could not immediately provide numbers of victims.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The unrest has come at a difficult time for Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who is running a controversial campaign ahead of the ruling party’s primaries on Jan. 13.
A ruling party pact says that power within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) should rotate between the mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south every two terms.
CONDEMNATION
In Rome, Pope Benedict condemned Christmas Day attacks on two Christian churches in northeast Nigeria and Italy’s foreign ministry said it would summon the Nigerian ambassador shortly to express its concern. Italy often backs the Vatican’s concern over religious violence against Catholics and other Christians.
Jonathan is a southerner who inherited office when former Nigerian president Umaru Yar’Adua, a northerner, died during his first term this year and some northern factions in the ruling party are opposed to his candidacy.
Jonathan faces a challenge from former vice president Atiku Abubakar for the ruling party nomination and some fear any unrest in Africa’s most populous nation will be exploited by rivals during campaigning.
The governor of Plateau State has said the bombings were politically motivated terrorism, aimed at pitting Christians against Muslims to start another round of violence.
Christians, Muslims and animists from a patchwork of ethnic groups live peacefully side by side in most Nigerian cities, but hundreds of people died in religious and ethnic clashes at the start of the year in the central Middle Belt and there are fears politicians could try to stoke such rivalries as the elections approach.
The tensions are rooted in decades of resentment between indigenous groups, mostly Christian or animist, who are vying for control of fertile farmlands, and for economic and political power with mostly Muslim migrants and settlers from the north.
CONDOLENCES
The African Union on Saturday released a statement condemning the Christmas Eve bombings and offered its condolences to the families of those who have died.
“[The union] reaffirms the determination of the African Union to combat terrorism and to continue to support the efforts being deployed by member states in this respect,” a statement from chairman Jean Ping said.
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