Sunday 18 November 2012

Taraba: 4 killed in religious riots

A Christian vigilante group yesterday killed a Muslim resident, who insisted on going through their illegal checkpoint, leading to the death of no fewer than four persons, according to a source that spoke to The Associated Press.
The incident, according to the source, showed how communities have lost faith in government’s ability to protect them.
Rioters have burned down houses and shops in the remote area of Ibi, about 140 miles (230 kilometres) from the Taraba state capital of Jalingo, said Ibi local government chairman, Isiaku Adamu.
Abubakar Abubakar Bello, an Ibi resident, told The Associated Press that churches and mosques were also torched as he stood outside his home to protect it. He said residents were fleeing his town.
The Commissioner of Information, Mr. Emmanuel Bello, said the authorities have deployed troops to the area to quell the violence.
Christians had put up several checkpoints early yesterday to stop Muslims from nearing their church during their services as a response to church attacks in other parts of the country, Adamu said.
The ensuing riots come three weeks after a suicide bomber rammed an SUV loaded with explosives into a Catholic church holding Mass on Sunday in the north central city of Kaduna, killing at least seven people and wounding more than 100 others.
The car bombing was the latest high-casualty attack targeting churches in a West African nation of more than 160 million people evenly divided between Muslims and Christians. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram has previously targeted churches in a bid to exacerbate religious tensions in Nigeria.

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