'150 bodies found in wells' after Nigerian massacre

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The irony is that if there was an earthquake over there, I am sure people would

be sending them money.

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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/100123/world/nigeria_unrest_religion

'150 bodies found in wells' after Nigerian massacre

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2 hours, 43 minutes ago

JOS, Nigeria (AFP) - At least 150 bodies were recovered from wells following

deadly Muslim-Christian clashes in central Nigeria, a village headman said

Saturday, taking the unofficial death toll past 400.

" So far we have picked 150 bodies from the wells. But 60 more people are still

missing " , Umar Baza, head of Kuru Karama village near the city of Jos, told AFP

by telephone.

" We took an inventory of the displaced people from this village, sheltering in

three camps, and we realise that 60 people can still not be accounted for, " he

said.

" We believe there are more bodies in the wells. "

The Head of the Muslim volunteer team for the victims' burial, Mohammed Shittu,

said further searches would be carried out on Saturday.

" Now we have 150 bodies in all, taken from the wells as from Thursday, " he told

AFP.

" From the account of survivors, some people fleeing attacks were ambushed and

killed in the bush. That is why we are going there to search for more bodies. "

Global rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Saturday urged Vice President

Goodluck to order " an immediate criminal investigation into credible

reports of a massacre of at least 150 Muslim residents of a town in central

Nigeria. "

A Muslim official who visited Kuru Karama to arrange for the burial of bodies

told HRW that 121 corpses had been recovered, including those of 22 young

children.

Dozens of them were " stuffed down wells or in sewage pits, " HRW said in a

statement.

The state government has given no official death toll for the violence, which

broke out last Sunday in Jos, capital of Plateau State, and spread to nearby

towns and villages.

Some 18,000 people fled the fighting to take refuge in military barracks,

churches and mosques around the city, according to the Red Cross, as the

government called in the army to restore order.

Religious leaders and medical workers said they had counted 288 bodies by

Wednesday, before the dead started to be recovered from Kuru Karama, a Muslim

enclave in a Christian region 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Jos.

Another 26 bodies were found and buried Saturday in a Jos cemetery.

" These 26 bodies buried were picked up today (Saturday) in two locations

affected by the violence in Jos -- Rusau and Anguwar Rukuba, " Shittu told AFP.

HRW quoted witnesses as saying groups of armed men -- believed to be Christians

-- attacked the largely Muslim population of Kuru Karama on Tuesday morning.

" After surrounding the town, they hunted down and attacked Muslim residents,

some of whom had sought refuge in homes and a local mosque, killing many as they

tried to flee and burning many others alive, " the statement said.

Christian and Muslim leaders in Plateau State have both said the unrest owed

more to the failure of political leaders to address ethnic differences than to

inter-faith rivalries.

pledged that the ringleaders responsible for the violence would be

brought to justice, and ordered the army to take over security of the affected

regions and sensitive neighbouring areas.

" The federal government is determined to secure convictions of the perpetrators

of this crime, no matter how highly placed, " he said in a broadcast late

Thursday.

Jos has been a hotbed of religious violence in Nigeria, whose 150 million people

are divided almost equally between followers of the two faiths.

An estimated 200 people were killed in religious clashes in the city in late

2008.

Business was slowly picking up in Jos Saturday with more more shops opening and

roadside hawkers displaying their wares, while long queues of residents

scrambled for water at public taps.

Although no military patrols were visible, checkpoints still remained.