Christian youths battled Muslim youths in Jos, Nigeria, yesterday. Twenty were killed and fifty injured, based on early estimates. Accounts, of course, vary. What is clear is that members of the "'Izala" Islamic Group assembled at an abandoned mosque in the predominantly Christian Rukuba Road area of Jos to celebrate the end of Ramadan and pray; this mosque had been abandoned due to previous inter-communal violence.
According to one version of what followed, local Christian youths were incensed at the encroachment on their territory and set upon the Muslims who were gathering peacefully, if a bit provocatively given the simmering tensions carried over from the recent past. Another version is that the Muslims, mostly young themselves according to press reports, entered the neighborhood "brandishing guns, knives, and other weapons," and then fired on a crowd of Christian youth from inside the mosque, who, in both accounts, gathered menacingly outside. It is also alleged that some of the deaths are the result of the Nigerian Special Task Force opening fire on the crowd to disperse it. All accounts stress the youth of those involved.
This clash follows an incident in the same neighborhood in late July that left five dead and twelve injured; a man, from a nearby area and presumably Muslim, was called to the Rukuba road district to duplicate a car key. This man was attacked and killed shortly thereafter. As news of his murder spread, young men from his neighborhood converged on Rukuba Road in response and the bloody melee began.
According to one version of what followed, local Christian youths were incensed at the encroachment on their territory and set upon the Muslims who were gathering peacefully, if a bit provocatively given the simmering tensions carried over from the recent past. Another version is that the Muslims, mostly young themselves according to press reports, entered the neighborhood "brandishing guns, knives, and other weapons," and then fired on a crowd of Christian youth from inside the mosque, who, in both accounts, gathered menacingly outside. It is also alleged that some of the deaths are the result of the Nigerian Special Task Force opening fire on the crowd to disperse it. All accounts stress the youth of those involved.
This clash follows an incident in the same neighborhood in late July that left five dead and twelve injured; a man, from a nearby area and presumably Muslim, was called to the Rukuba road district to duplicate a car key. This man was attacked and killed shortly thereafter. As news of his murder spread, young men from his neighborhood converged on Rukuba Road in response and the bloody melee began.
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| Downtown Jos, Nigeria. |
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