Gunfire, blasts as religions clash in north Nigeria
Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:56pm GMT
* Muslims protest against retaliatory killings by Christians
* Explosion rocks Kaduna market place during protests
* Clashes in northeast Damaturu kill 3 police, 2 soldiers
* Taliban-style group bent on provoking faith clashes (Adds Kaduna
explosion, deaths in Damaturu, quotes, reaction)
By Isaac Abrak
KADUNA, Nigeria, June 19 (Reuters) - Nigerian Muslims fired AK-47 rifles,
burned tyres and destroyed at least one church in the northern city of
Kaduna on Tuesday, two days after rioting by Christian youths killed 52
people, witnesses said.
An explosion also struck a market in Kaduna, residents said, during the
latest of a series of retaliatory confrontations between followers of the
two faiths in Africa's largest oil producer.
The escalating violence has raised fears of wider sectarian conflict in a
country already reeling from months of attacks on government buildings and
churches by followers of the Islamist sect Boko Haram.
The movement styled on the Taliban appears bent on provoking
Christian-Muslim clashes as part of its campaign to carve an Islamic state
out of parts of Nigeria.
"They (the Muslims) are out on the streets, burning tyres and shooting. They
burned a church," said one witness in Kaduna, who only gave his first name,
Suleiman, for fear of reprisals.
It was not immediately clear if the shots were fired into the air or at
people and other targets.
Religiously mixed Kaduna is near the volatile "Middle Belt", where the
mostly Christian south and largely Muslim north meet. The city has been a
flashpoint for tensions over religion, ethnicity and land ownership.
The protests in Kaduna followed attacks on Sunday by angry Christian youths
who set up roadblocks, dragged Muslims from their vehicles and killed them,
according to witnesses.
The Christian youths were in turn reacting to suicide bombings at three
churches in Kaduna state, blamed on Islamists, that killed 19 people.
Kaduna Police commissioner Mohammed Abubakar told journalists later on
Tuesday calm had been restored and nine suspects arrested.
Officers had also recovered 15 home made bombs, several rifles and pistols
with rounds of ammunition, he added.
"We call on the people of Kaduna state to remain peaceful to ensure the
maintenance of law and order," Abubakar said.
Kaduna authorities imposed a second 24-hour curfew in two days.
ISLAMISTS, SECURITY FORCES BATTLE
Hundreds of kilometres away in the northeastern city of Damaturu, at least
three policeman and two soldiers were killed in overnight clashes with Boko
Haram suspects.
Yobe State commissioner of police, Patrick Egbuniwe, confirmed the deaths to
reporters and said sect members and civilians were also killed. He could not
confirm how many because they were still collecting bodies.
The Yobe state government has also imposed a 24-hour curfew.
In November, 65 people were killed in attacks claimed by Boko Haram on
churches, mosques and police stations in Damaturu, where security forces
often clash with Islamists in gun battles.
Sensitive to the possibility of religious tensions escalating, the Senate
appealed for unity.
"The senate agrees that there is an attempt to pitch each religion against
the other but we are appealing to Nigerians not to fall for the trap,"
Nigeria's Senate spokesman Eyinnaya Abaribe said after a meeting of the
lawmakers on Tuesday.
Riots killed hundreds in the city in April last year after President
Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Christian, defeated northern Muslim Muhammadu
Buhari in elections.
Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau has said the attacks on Christians were
revenge for past killing of Muslims.
Jonathan has been criticised for failing to end the attacks.
"Since these terrorist acts began, nothing the President has done has been
re-assuring that the end to this spate of bombings and gun attacks is in
sight," a statement from the Christian Association of Nigeria said on
Tuesday.
"His utterances after each bombing and killing ... seem to have cast a
hallmark of weakness on his presidency." (Additional reporting by Ibrahim
Mshelizza and Garba Mohammed in Kaduna, Afolabi Sotunde, Camillus Eboh and
Mike Oboh in Abuja; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Tim Cocks and Andrew
Heavens)
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
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Received on Tue Jun 19 2012 - 17:22:36 EDT
