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At Least 235 Arrested in Riots in Northern Nigeria
As an uneasy calm gradually returned to the Nigerian northern city of Kano after a violent clash between Muslims and Christians at the weekend, the police have arrested at least 235 persons in connection with the disturbance, local media reported on Monday.
The riots, which started as a protest against United States-led strikes on Afghanistan last Friday, turned violent on Saturday, claiming many lives and properties.
Alhaji Yakubu Bello Uba, the Kano State Commissioner of Police, confirmed that 18 have been killed in the riots and five leaders of Jama'atul Tajdidul Islam, an Islamic group, were among those arrested in connection with the religious clashes.
According to Uba, 40 persons were injured, four churches burnt, 13 vehicles burnt and 23 buildings including four mosques were set ablaze.
However, the state government put the death toll at 13 and said about 100 people were wounded.
Because of the ferocious crisis, it has not been possible to get the actual figure of the people killed. While fleeing residents claimed the number of deaths had risen from eight to at least 200.
On Sunday night, under the federal government's order, soldiers and anti-riot policemen deployed from the neighboring states of Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa and Bauchi were still trying to contain the riots, which had spread to other parts of the city.
While reacting to the riots, Speaker of the House of Representatives Alhaji Umar Ghali Na'Abba called for calm in all states, saying that the conflicts in the Middle East and the standstill between the U.S. and the Taliban can only be resolved by dialogue.
Na'Abba said Kano had lost too many lives to such crises in the recent past and can not afford to become another "tinder box of unrest".
"Rather than maim each other, all religious groups should pray fervently to bring peace to the country and the world," he added.
Kano, Nigeria's second largest commercial center after Lagos, has the largest Muslim population in the country and has been identified as a hotbed for bloody religious riots.
In the last 20 years, Nigeria has faced scores of religious and ethnic unrest along with other violent turmoil, which have claimed thousands of lives and destroyed many properties in different parts of country.
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