20100424
press tv

Five people have lost their lives in a fresh outbreak of violence in Nigeria after a protest staged by a group of Muslim youths turned to a scene of a confrontation with Christians.

Hundreds of protestors took to streets in the city of Jos, after the murder of a 17-year-old student sent shockwaves through the Muslim community in the religiously-divided Plateau State.

The protest went violent when young Christians and Muslims engaged in a knife fight, which left up to four people dead in the Dutse Uku and Miango districts.

The clashes reportedly ended with the intervention soldiers from the Special Task Force and some Muslim community leaders who rushed to the scene, urging the youths to stop the protest.

On Thursday, police unearthed eight bodies in a nearby Christian village to bring to 15 the number of bodies exhumed in three days in the area.

Plagued by frequent clashes, Plateau State is on the limit of Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south.