Fighting Between Muslims and Christians in Central Nigerian Town of Jos Leaves at Least 16 Dead.

From Bloomberg Businessweek

By Ardo Hazzad

 At least 16 people were killed and 11 wounded in Nigeria’s central city of Jos in reprisal clashes between Christian and Muslim ethnic groups yesterday, said Pam Ayuba, spokesman for the Plateau state government.

Hundreds of women and youth barricaded the highway between Abuja, the capital, and Jos today to protest renewed violence between the groups, Ayuba said by phone from the city.

A family of four was killed in the predominately Christian district of Dabwak and 12 people died in an attack in the suburb of Babale, Ayuba said. On Sept. 3, unknown gunmen killed a family of eight in Jos, he said.

Nearly 70 people have been killed in Plateau state in less than two weeks in the latest violence between Christians and Muslims. Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer and most populous nation of about 140 million people, is roughly split between a mainly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south.

The military deployed to maintain peace are “now mandated to use all the necessary force within its powers on anybody carrying and using arms or dangerous weapons,” after soldiers came under sniper attack on Sept. 2, Charles Ekeocha, a spokesman for the military task force in the area, said today by phone from the city.

More than 14,000 people died in ethnic and religious clashes in the West African nation between 1999 and 2009, according to the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

Muslims Slaughter 500 Christians in Nigeria

Villagers from Dogo Nahawa watch as health officials cover the bodies of people killed during religious clashes, in a mass grave in Jos, Plateau State. UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Washington have led calls for restraint in Nigeria after the slaughter of more than 500 Christians, with survivors telling how the killers chopped down their victims. (AFP)

UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Washington led calls for restraint on Monday after the slaughter of more than 500 Christians in Nigeria, as survivors told how the killers chopped down their victims.

Funerals took place for victims of the three-hour orgy of violence on Sunday in three Christian villages close to the northern city of Jos, blamed on members of the mainly Muslim Fulani ethnic group.

While troops were deployed to the villages to prevent new attacks, security forces detained 95 suspects but faced bitter criticism over how the killers were able to go on the rampage at a time when a curfew was meant to be in force.

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Muslims Burn Christian Homes, Dine with President

Catholic World News reports that militant Muslims have torched the homes of Christian families in Nigeria.

According to the report, "at least 8 homes have been burned to the ground, and other Christian homes damaged, in a series of attacks in the town of Tudun-Wada."

At about the same time, President Bush was hosting his seventh annual Iftar dinner in the White House State Dining Room with 90 American Muslims to mark the end of Ramadan.

The President, who regards Islam as a "religion of peace," said he celebrates "the millions of Muslims that we are proud to call American citizens. And let us honor the many Muslim nations that America is proud to call friends."

The President of the United States praying to Allah during the Iftar Dinner


Editor's Note To President: Many of us need convincing on this "religion of peace" thing. To prove us wrong, why don't you schedule a tour of some Muslim countries and take a walk, without the Secret Service, through their peaceful streets? Heck, we'll make it easy for you; take a walk in Dearborn, Michigan!