37 feared killed in Adamawa clash
T HE death toll in Tuesday's violent clash in Adamawa State was yesterday put at 37 by the Nigerian Red Cross.
The clash added to the spate of sectarian clashes in the country, which has recently been on the rise.
The Adamawa clash, between people suspected to be Christians and Moslems, was sparked by sharp disagreements over the rebuilding of a minaret in the riverside town of Numan, a year after the mosque was razed in similar sectarian violence that killed eight persons.
"About 37 people killed in the incident and 99 people with serious injuries were evacuated to hospitals," Nigerian Red Cross President Emmanuel Ijewere told Reuters in Lagos.
He said a total of 128 people were injured, and more than 2,000 people were uprooted from their homes by the violence.
An Adamawa government spokesman had earlier said scores of people might have died in the six-hour mayhem, but that it was difficult to give an exact death toll.
Willie Zalwalai said by phone from the state capital, Yola, that police had confirmed nine deaths, adding that there were reports that several dead bodies were dumped in the river.
Police said on Wednesday that mobs had destroyed the central mosque and burned homes and shops in Numan, 50 km (30 miles) northwest of Yola.
More than 1,000 people have been killed since May in religious and communal clashes in central Plateau State and in reprisal killings in Kano State.
President Olusegun Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in May after the Plateau mayhem and warned state governors they would be held responsible for any outbreak of violence in their regions.
Zalwalai said that although security forces had managed to restore calm, a large number of people had fled the remote town on the banks of River Benue, to Yola and other nearby towns, for fear of fresh attacks.
Officials said Adamawa state governor Boni Haruna had imposed a night curfew on Numan, where over 400 troops and police reinforcements have been deployed.
A shoot-on-sight order would also be enforced in the state against mobs and arsonists, officials said.
State officials said the violence erupted after youths from the predominantly Christian Bachama ethnic group, enraged by the rebuilding of the minaret overlooking the palace of their chief, attacked the workers.
The minaret has been at the centre of a dispute between the town's minority Moslem community and the Bachama chief, who argued that the new structure was taller than before.
