At least 9 killed in riot over building of mosque in Nigeria

By JOHN MURRAY, Associated Press
Last Updated 7:38 pm PDT Wednesday, June 9, 2004

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - Christians battled Muslims in a Nigerian city Wednesday, burning homes and places of worship in a dispute over construction of a mosque near a Christian tribal leader's palace. Police confirmed nine deaths and witnesses put the toll at more than 50.

Muslims and Christians alike were fleeing the town of Numan, near Nigeria's eastern border with Cameroon. Authorities imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew to try to stop the bloodletting.

Adamawa state Gov. Boni Haruna visited the town on Wednesday, at one point shedding tears as he toured the town's morgue with journalists.

John Ngamfa, a reporter with the state-owned Scope newspaper, told The Associated Press he saw "many bodies, more than 50" piled up in the morgue.

Many phones were down in the area, and mortuary officials could not be reached directly for comment.

Police commissioner Abubakar Hafiz Ringim confirmed nine killed.

Christians of the local Bachama tribe had demanded for weeks that the area's minority Muslims destroy a mosque built early this year near the palace of Bachama chief Freddie Soditi Bongo.

The Bachama complained the mosque's minaret was an affront to majority Christians because it was taller than the Christian leader's palace.

Muslim leaders had refused to destroy the mosque until Christians pay for a new one elsewhere.

When the fighting began Tuesday, youths tore down the minaret and heavily vandalized several other mosques in nearby Gyawana village, several Christian witnesses said.

Resident Joseph Myaturti, a Christian, said he saw one of the Muslim builders working on the mosque dragged to the chief's compound, where the man was whipped with chains.

Myaturti spoke to the AP from the Adamawa state capital, Yola, where he had fled overnight.

Fighting continued Wednesday despite the deployment of police reinforcements to the area.

Christian-Muslim violence has raged in Nigeria since a dozen northern states began implementing the strict punishments of Islamic Shariah law in 2000. Thousands have died in the fighting.