Buildings burn, death toll mounts in central Nigeria

Never hear anything about Nigeria in the news, Christians and Muslims have been taking turns killing each other for months on end.


(Reuters) - Youths dragged people from their cars and murdered them at illegal roadblocks in central Nigeria over the weekend, while rioters burned fuel stations and homes in the latest clashes between Christian and Muslim gangs.

Youths from the mostly Christian Berom ethnic group set up the roadblocks on Saturday at Gada Biu, on the edge of the city of Jos, stopping vehicles and pulling out people they believed to be Muslims, witnesses said.

One witness, who asked not to be named, said he had counted 15 bodies, although the security forces could not confirm this.

The latest burst of violence in Plateau state, where an estimated 200 people have been killed in ethnic and religious clashes over the past month, was triggered when Muslim youths attended a burial ceremony near a Christian village on Friday.

Soldiers opened fire to try to quell fighting that ensued between rival mobs of students.

"The situation was aggravated when the soldiers attempted to repel them into the campus. In the process, many students sustained various degrees of injuries," Plateau State Information Commissioner Gregory Yenlong said.

Reports on Saturday that some of the students had died in hospital triggered rioting, with youths setting up the roadblocks and protesters burning two fuel stations, a college and vehicles in the Farin Gada area of Jos, police said.