22 killed after Christian and Muslim youths clash in central Nigeria

[News_Editor]

22 killed after Christian and Muslim youths clash in central Nigeria

2011-09-02 22:38:22 GMT+7 (ICT)

JOS, NIGERIA (BNO NEWS) -- Violent clashes between Christian and Muslim Nigerians broke out in the central region of the country and have entered their second day, as at least 22 people have reportedly been killed, local officials said on Friday.

Since Thursday, Christian and Muslim youths clashed in the restive city of Jos, located in Nigeria's Plateau State, while security forces struggle to ease tensions, the local Nation newspaper reported.

Jos' Joint Military Taskforce spokesman Captain Charles Eckeocha said he did not have any details regarding casualties, adding that some soldiers had been wounded. However, Mohammed Kabiro, who works at the central morgue, said they had received the bodies of 22 people who had been killed during the clashes. Most of them, he said, were youths.

On Monday, Nigerian army officials said at least thirteen people had died during clashes between Christians and Muslims as Eid-al-Fitr celebrations were carried out.

Nigeria has already been struggling with violent extremist Islamic groups in its northeastern region. Last Friday, a suicide bomber struck a three-story United Nations building in Abuja, killing 23 people and injuring more than 80 others.

The Islamic group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attack. The group has been blamed by Nigerian officials for most of the region's terrorist attacks and seeks the imposition of an extremist stance of the Shariah law, which is a Muslim code of conduct.

The group's name, 'Boko Haram,' in the local language of Hausa, roughly translates as 'Western religion is sacrilegious' or 'non-Islamic religion is a sin.'

In January 2010, around 1,000 people were killed during clashes between Muslim and Christian ethic groups in the city of Jos.

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