Thursday, February 11, 2010

Jos Christians Attacked

According to local Christian sources, the violence began on Sunday 17 January in the Nasarawa Gwong area of Jos. Two hundred Muslim men gathered to renovate a house belonging to a Muslim and began chanting intimidating slogans. Muslim youths nearby interpreted these as a call to arms and attacked a church during a worship service. They destroyed the church and went on to loot and burn Christian homes, church buildings and shops. At one church the youths, dressed in military uniform, ransacked the pastor’s office and bedroom and “arrested” six young Christians. The theological college at Bukuru was reported to be under siege. Another Nigerian Christian source commented that, amidst the chaos, Christian leaders were being particularly targeted.

Although there has been no official figure from the Nigerian government, there could be around 300 dead. Thousands have fled their homes; some reports put this figure as high as 18,000. Church leaders have received distress calls from all over Jos from people fleeing the violence. The whereabouts of the Nigerian President, who has been in hospital in Saudi Arabia, is now unknown.

Read it all here.

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