NIGERIA: JOS CLASHES KILLS HUNDREDS
Mar 9th, 2010 by admin
Several hundred people have died after fresh religious clashes near the Nigerian city of Jos erupted over the weekend, according to officials. Media reports on Monday quoted local officials who put the death toll between 200 and 500 people, including many women and children. Three mainly Christian villages near Jos were attacked from nearby hills by people armed with machetes, the officials said. A Red Cross spokesman, Robin Waubo, told news agency Associated Press that the attacks appeared to be a reprisal to the clashes in Jos that killed more than 300 people in January, most of them Muslims. The city has a history of recent religious conflict, but some reports also blame the violence on poverty and disputes over access to resources such as land.