Nigeria: Army Ordered to Quell Sectarian Clashes -Religious gang war leaves hundreds dead

Vice President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the army on Thursday to take over security in the central city of Jos to prevent further clashes between Christians and Muslims, which killed more than 460 people this week. Mr. Jonathan, left, has been empowered by a federal court to perform executive duties in the absence of President Umaru Yar’Adua, who has been in a hospital in Saudi Arabia for two months. “Let me assure all that the federal government is on top of the situation and that the crisis is being brought under control,” Mr. Jonathan said in a televised address.

Massacre: violent clashes have forced about 17,000 people to flee their homes

Mass funerals are underway in the central Nigerian city of Jos after days of fighting between Christian and Muslim gangs left hundreds of people dead.

Human rights groups estimate at least 450 people have been killed in the violence and many of the dead have been taken to mosques and churches for burial.

At one mosque alone, more than 200 bodies have been left for burial, while dozens of others have been taken to churches.

Fighting between the groups of youths began last weekend and quickly escalated into a massacre.

It is unclear what sparked the clashes, which also forced about 17,000 people to flee their homes.

The city of Jos lies in Nigeria's Middle Belt where the mainly Muslim north meets the predominantly Christian south and has been a flashpoint for Nigeria's religious differences for the past decade.

Hundreds of people have been killed in similar clashes in the past decade.
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Authorities in the central Nigerian city of Jos claim clashes between Christian and Muslim gangs have killed around 150 people.

Gangs of Christian and Muslim youths have been roaming the streets of Jos since the weekend seemingly intent on killing.

The fighting erupted when Christian youths began protesting about the construction of a mosque in a predominantly Christian area.

Houses and cars were set alight before the gangs began shooting at each other.
Victims of the fighting have been taken to the main mosque and workers there claim more than 150 people have been killed while more than 800 have been wounded.

Authorities fear the violence may spread and have imposed a 24-hour curfew on the city's residents.
A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Nigeria, Robin Waudo, says his workers in Jos have told him they are trapped indoors by the renewed fighting.

"What you have now is those people fighting still on the streets even with the curfew right now," he said.
"The main road into the city has been isolated now because of the fighting, so even our team that was leaving from Abuja this morning is not able to get into the city."

Nigeria has sent more troops to the troubled city of Jos as clashes between Muslim and Christian mobs, that have left about 300 people dead, spread to new districts.

Vice President Goodluck Jonathan ordered extra soldiers to Jos to clamp down on the violence as authorities enforced a 24-hour curfew.

The unrest erupted on Sunday over plans to build a mosque in a mainly Christian district of the city, which has riven by sectarian tensions for many years.

Mobs have set fire to buildings while many of the dead had been shot. Muslim leaders said about 200 bodies had been taken to the central mosque in Jos.

Several hundred have been reported wounded and casualties have filled hospitals. Some clinics were reportedly running out of medical supplies.
Residents said the fighting spread during the night to areas on the fringes of Jos, capital of Plateau State.
Idris Sarki, who fled into Jos from the nearby town of Kuru Karama, said attacks are still going on in areas in the southern parts of the city including Kuru Karama, Bisiji, Sabongidan and Kanar.
"The area I came from has been sacked. All residents like me who are fortunate have left, but many, many have been killed," he said.

Other residents said they had seen the army reinforcements on the streets.
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) lobby group said more than 13,500 people have died in religious or ethnic clashes since the end of military rule in 1999 in the west African country.