Nigerian soldiers open fire in clash with students

Politicians have been blamed for stoking ethnic and religious tensions in central Nigeria. Human Rights Watch said this week more than 200 people had been killed in Plateau state since Christmas Eve, when dozens died in the string of bombings and resulting clashes in Jos. AP Photo

JOS: Christian and Muslim leaders described deadly sectarian violence in central Nigeria Saturday, while Nigerian soldiers opened fire on students protesting there after an attack the night before.

The renewed violence in the flashpoint region also saw churches and mosques set ablaze, officials and witnesses said.

A hospital official said at least one person had been killed and 24 wounded by gunfire during the clashes between students and troops.

But the commander of a military task force in the region said only four students had shot and injured when soldiers fired in self-defence.

The clashes happened in the central Nigerian city of Jos, the scene of repeated attacks including the Christmas Eve bombings that killed dozens.

The latest wave of violence broke out late Friday after motorcycle-riding Muslim villagers stabbed three University of Jos students, according to student leader Victor Dazi.

A large number of students later mobilised and tried to march in protest towards a Muslim area before soldiers intervened, leading to a confrontation.

The situation became worse. The students tried to overrun our men, and that was when shots were fired in self-defence and hit four of them, said Brigadier General Hassan Umaru, the commander of the task force.

Others were wounded while being dispersed, he said.

A senior Muslim cleric in Jos, Ahmed Garba said they ! buried f our people killed Saturday near the university.

All of those died from gunshots from soldiers trying to enforce law and order, he told AFP.

Mark Lipdo of a Christian rights group, the Stefanos Foundation, said Christians had also been killed.

I saw three corpses, all of them Christians, one of them a seven-year-old being taken into a mortuary.

Two churches, one them a Baptist church, had been destroyed during the violence, he added.
Discussing the student protests, George Chima, chief medical director of Bingham University Teaching Hospital, told AFP: Twenty four people were brought in with gunshot wounds but one died.

One of the wounded students, Douglas Daniel, said from his hospital bed that he had been shot in the arm by soldiers.

Women from the area joined in later protests and soldiers were shooting in the air to stop rioting, said witnesses.

Two fuel stations, a vegetable market, churches, mosques and houses were set alight, Umaru and witnesses said. A thick pall of smoke covered the area.

People took advantage of the situation to burn houses and vehicles. They just burnt houses of the opposite faith churches and mosques included, Umaru said.

Jos is the capital of Plateau state, part of the so-called middle belt between the mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.

The region has been hit by waves of violence in recent years that have killed scores of people, and there has been a sharp increase in clashes ahead of April elections.

Politicians have been blamed for stoking ethnic and religious tensions in central Nigeria.

While the International Criminal Court has said it is looking into an issue in Nigeria, it has not specified what, but local rights activists say they have been informed it involves Jos.

Human Rights Watch said this week more than 200 people had been killed in Plateau state since Christmas Eve, when dozens died in the string of bombings and resulting clashes in Jos.