Jos — A TANK rumbled through the troubled city of Jos, yesterday, as soldiers escorted a truck loaded with bodies to a mass grave after four days of inter-religious clashes left some 300 dead.
With a 24 hour curfew relaxed for a few hours, religious leaders conducted mass funerals after the government ordered in troops to quell attacks by rampaging gun and machete-wielding gangs that had raged largely unchecked in the city since Sunday....
This is ethnic cleansing.
Channels TV via Reuters TV/Reuters Vehicles burn on the street in Jos on Jan. 17, 2010 in this video grab
Calm returns to Nigerian city plagued by religious clashes (click here)
JOS, Nigeria -- Nigerian authorities relaxed a 24-hour curfew in the city of Jos on Thursday to allow thousands of residents to return to their homes following clashes between Muslims and Christians that killed hundreds.
The strong presence of troops and police has helped restore calm in the capital of Plateau state with no reports of major violence for nearly a day.
Four days of sectarian clashes this week killed more than 460 in and around the central Nigerian city.
The Red Cross estimated 17,000 people have been displaced and took shelter in colleges, hospitals and schools since clashes began on Sunday.
"There are so many people that need clothing, food and water. The Red Cross is focusing on those injured and referring some to hospital," an agency spokesman said, adding that about 990 have been hospitalized.
Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang relaxed the curfew in Jos to operate between 5 p.m. and 10 a.m. to allow people to return to their homes....
TIMELINE-Ethnic and religious unrest in Nigeria (click here)
Jan 21 (Reuters) - Following is a timeline of religious and ethnic violence in Nigeria:2000 - Thousands killed in northern Nigeria as non-Muslims opposed to the introduction of Islamic sharia law fight Muslims who demand its implementation in the northern state of Kaduna.
Sept. 2001 - Christian-Muslim violence flares after Muslim prayers in Jos, with churches and mosques set on fire. At least 1,000 people are killed, according to a Sept. 2002 report by a panel set up by Plateau state government.
Nov. 2002 - Nigeria abandons the Miss World contest in Abuja. The decision follows the death of at least 216 people in rioting in the northern city of Kaduna after a newspaper article suggests the Prophet Mohammad would probably have married one of the Miss World beauty queens if he were alive today. May 2004 - Hundreds of people, mostly Muslim Fulanis, are killed by Christian Tarok militia in the central Nigerian town of Yelwa. Survivors say they buried 630 corpses. Police say hundreds were killed.
-- Muslim and Christian militants fight street battles later the same month in the northern city of Kano. Christian community leaders say 500-600 people, mostly Christians, were killed in two days of violence.
Feb. 2006 - At least 157 people die in a week of rioting by Muslim and Christian mobs. The violence begins in the northeastern city of Maiduguri when a Muslim protest against Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad runs out of control. Revenge attacks follow in the south.
Nov. 2008 - Clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs triggered by a disputed local government election kill at least 700 people in the central city of Jos, according to U.S.-based Human Rights Watch.
Feb. 2009 - The governor of Bauchi state imposes a night curfew on Bauchi city on Feb. 22, a day after clashes in which at least 11 people die, 28 are seriously wounded and several houses, churches and mosques are burned down.
July 2009 - Boko Haram, an organisation which opposes Western education and demands the adoption of sharia in all of Nigeria, stages attacks in the northeastern city of Bauchi after the arrest of some of its members. More than 50 people are killed and over 100 arrested, prompting the Bauchi state governor to impose a night curfew on the state capital.
-- Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sinful", threatens further attacks on security forces.
-- Police in Maiduguri, home of Boko Haram's leader Mohammed Yusuf, say security forces killed 90 sect members on July 27. In neighbouring Yobe state, police recover the bodies of 33 sect members after a gunbattle near the town of Potiskum on July 29.
-- Yusuf is shot dead while in police detention in Maiduguri on July 30.
-- Red Cross and defence officials say more than 700 people were killed during the five-day Boko Haram uprising.
Dec. 2009 - At least 40 people are killed in clashes between security forces and members of an Islamic sect armed with machetes in the northern city of Bauchi.
Jan. 2010 - At least 460 people are reported killed after clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs in Jos, most by gunfire. Police impose a 24-hour curfew, enforced by hundreds of soldiers and police.
