20100118
africanews

About 12 people have been killed in the Nigerian central city of Jos in a clash between Muslims and Christians, which began early Sunday. The city has been placed under a dusk-to-dawn curfew to ease tensions, according to reports.
clashes in Nigeria
The fighting started when Christian youths protested the building of a mosque in a Christian-dominated district by a wealthy Muslim. Witnesses quoted by AFP say scores of houses and vehicles have been burnt.

Spokesperson for Jos University Teaching Hospital told News Agency of Nigeria that 12 bodies were lying in the hospital and that dozens of wounded people bearing deep gunshot and machete cuts were receiving treatment.

The state’s commissioner of police, Gregory Anyating told AFP that 35 people have been arrested and that his men were making full investigation.

According to reports, Nassarawa Gwom district, centre of the fighting, harbours mostly Christians, but the few Muslims there have always lived side-by-side peacefully with their neighbours.

Similar clashes claimed hundreds of lives within two days in November 2008 following a rumour that majority-Muslim All Nigerian Peoples Party had lost a local election to the mainly Christian Peoples Democratic Party.

Nigeria’s 150 million population is almost equally split between Christians and Muslims.