600 Muslims killed in attacks on Nigerian Muslim village
uploaded 08 May 2004Militants from a predominantly Christian tribe killed at least 500 people in attacks on a mainly Muslim village in central Nigeria, a senior Red Cross official said. Nascent efforts to mediate the crisis hit a snag on Friday. Although the exact death toll was not known, Red Cross workers "estimate 500 to 600 dead" after interviewing witnesses and inspecting a mass grave site where hundreds were apparently buried, Red Cross official Umar Abdu Mairiga said Thursday.
He was leading a Nigerian Red Cross team visiting the Hausa-speaking Muslim town of Yelwa on Thursday following raids on Sunday and Tuesday by fighters from the largely Christian Tarok ethnic group. One hundred people were reported missing following the attacks, many of them women and children allegedly abducted by the attackers, Mairiga added. "We have done what we could do" to treat 58 injured residents still in the town, he said. At least 100 other woulded civilians were evacuated along with thousands of others whose homes were destroyed, other Red Cross officials said.
On Thursday, the region surrounding the town of about 10,000 appeared quiet as authorities declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew. An emergency mediation committee meant to bring together leaders of the rival groups launched Thursday by President Olusegun Obasango took a hit on Friday. Obasanjo named a prominent Muslim leader to head the committee, drawing condemnation from Christians, who constitute the majority in Plateau state.
"In the event of crisis, to bring somebody who has sympathy for the other group or somebody who is not neutral in the matter to head the panel is not acceptable," said Samuel Salifu, leader of the region's Christian association.
Source: AP
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