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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

NIGERIA: One killed, mosques burned in religious riots in northeast town

LAGOS, 9 June 2003 (IRIN) - At least one person was killed as several mosques and houses were burnt in sectarian violence in Nigeria's northeastern town of Numan, police and residents said on Monday.

Residents of the predominantly Christian town on the Benue river in Adamawa state said the violence started on Sunday after an itinerant Muslim trader stabbed a Christian woman to death over a dispute. Mobs of Christian youths responded by burning the main mosque in the town along with other smaller ones and the buildings of prominent Muslims.

"It's likely some other people were killed but I can't say for certain now," Robert Tuhumang, a resident, told IRIN.

A police official said only one person died while the situation had been brought under control. Armed anti-riot police were patrolling the streets and several arrests had been made, he said.

Relations between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria have grown increasingly tense since twelve states in the country's predominantly Islamic north adopted strict Shariah law. The new legal code prescribes much harsher punishments for various offences than were previously applied. They include public flogging for drinking alcohol, the ampuation of limbs for stealing and stoning to death for adultery.

Thousands of people have died in bouts of Christian, Muslim fighting across Nigeria in the last four years since Shari'ah implementation began. Africa's most populous country of more than 120 million people is roughly split between a mainly Muslim north and a largely Christian south.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Governance, (IRIN) Human Rights

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