Nigeria: Muslim volunteers search for dead after days of sectarian violence in central Nigeria
By APFriday, January 22, 2010
Nigeria: workers search for dead after violence
JOS, Nigeria — Muslim residents watched as volunteers searched their neighborhood in central Nigeria for remains of people killed in sectarian violence earlier this week.
Resident Adamu Bala says rioters rampaged through the Muslim neighborhood on the outskirts of the city of Jos on Monday. He said Friday that police warned villagers to flee before the riot, and then left. The words “New Jerusalem” were written in charcoal on the walls of houses. Bala says the mob killed and set alight his brother. Burning of corpses is considered desecration in Islam.
Days of fighting between Christians and Muslims has killed more than 200 people in recent days, and displaced more 5,000. The latest outbreak came despite the government’s efforts to quell religious extremism in the West African country.
