At least 149 people dead due to fresh religious clashes in Jos

Page last updated at 16:07 GMT, Tuesday, 19 January 2010

At least 149 people have been killed during two days of violence between Christian and Muslim gangs in the Nigerian city of Jos, officials say.

Mosque workers and Muslim clerics told reporters of the deaths as they prepared for a mass burial.

The death toll has not been verified independently and it is not known how many Christians have died.

The clashes broke out on Sunday and have continued since, with reports of gunfire and burning buildings.

A 24-hour curfew has been enforced in the area, which has seen several bouts of deadly violence in recent years.

At least 200 people were killed in an incident between Muslims and Christians in 2008, while some 1,000 died in a riot in 2001.

The current violence has forced at least 3,000 people from their homes.

Jos has long been a time-bomb waiting to explode.

The town is divided into Christian and Muslim areas. The divisions have been made worse by Nigeria’s system of classifying people as indigenes and settlers.

Hausa-speaking Muslims have been living in Jos for many decades but are still classified as settlers, meaning it is difficult for them to stand for election.

The two groups are also divided along party political lines with Christians mostly backing the ruling PDP, and Muslims generally supporting the opposition ANPP.

In Nigeria, political office means access to resources.

But Balarabe Dawud, head of the Central Mosque in Jos, told AFP news agency he had now counted 192 bodies since Sunday.

Muhammad Tanko Shittu, a mosque worker who was helping to prepare mass burials, told Reuters he had counted 149 bodies.

"On Sunday evening, we buried 19 corpses and 52 yesterday. As of right now, there are 78 at the mosque yet to be buried," he said.

Anglican Archbishop of Jos Benjamin Kwashi told the BBC that the situation was improving in the city centre, where security forces have been deployed.

But the violence spread beyond the city boundaries on Tuesday to neighbouring areas.

Jos is in Nigeria’s volatile Middle Belt – between the mainly Muslim north and the south where the majority is Christian or follows traditional religions.

Correspondents say such clashes in Nigeria are often blamed on sectarianism.

However poverty and access to resources such as land often lie at the root of the violence.