Attack on central Nigerian town kills at least 48
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JOS, Nigeria (Reuters) -- At least 48 people have been killed in the latest outbreak of sectarian violence in the central Nigerian state of Plateau, police said Wednesday.
Police said the victims were hacked down Tuesday when Muslim warriors attacked Yelwa town in the mainly Christian district of Shendam.
"The victims were pursued to a church ... they ran to for refuge and killed. Fourty-eight of them died instantly," Plateau police commissioner Innocent Ilozuoke told reporters in Jos, the state capital.
About 10,000 have been killed in communal and religious violence since 15 years of military rule ended in Africa's most populous nation of over 130 million people in 1999 with the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Security sources said the Muslim attackers' guerrilla tactics suggested they were hired mercenaries from oil-producing Nigeria's northern neighbors of Chad and Niger.
Ilozuoke said troops and police have been sent to the troubled area to try to contain the violence, but no arrests had yet been made.
The blood bath is the latest episode in a simmering conflict between Christians and Muslims in remote farming communities of southern Plateau where more than 100 people have been killed in the last two years.
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Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
