Nigerian police, soldiers secure riot-hit cities Sat Feb 25, 2006 6:55 AM ET

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ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian security forces patrolled cities on Saturday where religious violence has killed at least 157 people, and despite a fresh attack on two Muslim travelers most of the recent flashpoints were reported calm.

The week of tit-for-tat killings by Muslim and Christian mobs has shaken Africa's most populous country at a time when it is facing increasing militant attacks in its oil-producing Niger Delta region and an outbreak of bird flu.

Authorities ordered traditional rulers and religious leaders across the multi-ethnic country to calm their followers and put an end to the violence, which began in the mainly Muslim north and was followed by revenge attacks in the Christian south.

Analysts say uncertainty over Nigeria's political future is aggravating regional, ethnic and religious rivalries ahead of elections next year.

Many Nigerians believe President Olusegun Obasanjo and some state governors will try to stay in office for a third term after eight years in power. The prospect angers those who want their own ethnic or regional blocs to have their turn.

In Maiduguri and other northern cities which saw bloody anti-Christian riots that killed dozens over the last week, police and soldiers were patrolling the streets, residents said.

Security forces were also deployed in the southeastern city of Enugu where at least nine people were killed in revenge attacks on Muslims by Christian mobs.

"Police are patrolling and the military are guarding strategic points," said a local Red Cross official in Enugu, who asked not to be named.

But she added police were unable to prevent a Christian mob from attacking and seriously wounding two Muslim travelers from the north who got off a bus just north of Enugu early on Saturday. Police took the victims to hospital.

Nigeria's Red Cross has said that in addition to the killings, the week of violence injured 930 people and displaced about 16,000 across the country.

In the far south of the country, militants in the oil-producing Niger Delta have waged a three-month campaign of attacks and kidnappings, which has cut supplies from the world's eighth largest oil exporter and driven up world prices.