326 Slain in Nigerian Religious Violence

Sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims in central Nigeria left 326 people dead last week, a state police commissioner said Monday, pledging to bring those responsible for the killings to justice.

Acting Plateau State Police Commissioner Ikechukwu Aduba said officers have arrested 303 people in connection with the rioting in Jos, a one-time tourist and mining town that straddles Nigeria's Christian south and Muslim north. Of those arrested, 139 have been taken to Nigeria's capital, Abuja, for questioning.

Aduba said more suspects remained at large, including those who took part in killings that nearly wiped out a small village on the southern outskirts of Jos. Volunteers there discovered bodies shoved into communal wells and sewer dumps. Others lay dead in the bush outside the village, victims of gunshot and machete wounds.

Aduba also promised those arrested would face trial in Jos. Government leaders in Jos have complained that those involved in previous riots later made bail in Abuja and never faced justice.

Sectarian violence in this central region of Nigeria has left thousands dead over the past decade. The latest outbreak came despite the Nigerian government's efforts to quell religious extremism in the West African country.

There are conflicting accounts about what unleashed the recent bloodshed. According to a state police commissioner, skirmishes began after Muslim youths set a Christian church ablaze, but Muslim leaders denied that.

Muslims say it began with an argument over the rebuilding of a Muslim home in a predominantly Christian neighborhood that had been destroyed in November 2008.
By Associated Press Writer Ahmed Saka

[cleric60]

Hey, displeased, Have you be on your kneels, worshipping yourself--since that appears to be your "religion". It's your "religion"...and it's an old-time religion... "the serpent said to Eve, You shall be like God!"(Genesis 3:5b) Hey, if you need kneel-pads just say so.

[jayescas]

To BrianWX328m

Christians killing Muslims and vice versa is real in Nigeria. However, these killings are tribal rather than religion related. The conflict between the Hausas (mailnly muslims from the North) and Igbos (mostly christians from the East) are linked to regional inequalities dating back a few decades, with the Hausas controlling most of the wealth in the region hence the violence.

CBS reporting is factual and not about political correctness.

I spoke to my mother who is from Southern Nigeria and she confirmed the story.

[SusanStoHelit]

Christianity has it's horrors too - both in history, and in modern day countries like Nigeria. It's a good reminder not to get too smug, nor to be ready to blame an entire religion for the acts of extremists - especially when our own religion has it's own extremists.

[Empire-George-]

by SusanStoHelit January 25, 2010 2:56 PM EST

That was tribal warfare, and not related to their religious beliefs..

BrianWX328m, I know...those nuns beheading people left and right....the left is sick, I tell you.

[displeased]

But Brian, Susan's right. We do have our own extremists here. In most cases, but not all, guns are used instead of bombs. Now I'm not sticking up for the Islamic terrorists. Most of them are raised in poor, uneducated, third world countries, which gives us an advantage to more civilized behavior, but it is funny how you all have selective memory when it comes to our home grown terrorists attacks, which is usually done by some religious nutcase.