KADUNA — Gunfire and rioting rocked two northern Nigerian cities yesterday in a fresh round of unrest, prompting authorities to slap curfews on both after weekend violence killed 52 people. The unrest broke out in the cities of Kaduna and Damaturu, adding to fears of spiralling violence in the country’s north, where Islamist group Boko Haram’s insurgency has been concentrated.
With anger boiling over among Christians after Sunday church attacks, there have been renewed concerns over whether the violence could lead to a wider sectarian conflict in a country roughly divided between a mainly Moslem north and mostly Christian south.
As President Goodluck Jonathan prepared to fly to Rio yesterday to attend a UN environmental summit, Vice-President Namadi Sambo met security chiefs in the capital Abuja. Details of the meeting were not yet clear.
Yesterday in Kaduna, the state capital, Moslems protested after alleging they were unable to claim the remains of those killed, according to a resident.
After relatives were turned away from a city morgue, protesters “poured into the streets . . . burning Christian shops and attacking Christians . . . ” said the resident, adding that soldiers quickly arrived in the area.
Other residents spoke of tension in a number of neighbourhoods and reprisals by Moslems.
Red Cross spokesman Nwakpa O. Nwakpa told AFP that his teams deployed in Kaduna had alerted him to “ongoing protests.”
Authorities had declared a round-the-clock curfew on Sunday in Kaduna before relaxing it the following day. The state reinstituted the all-day curfew yesterday.
Kaduna is a major city in Nigeria’s north and includes a significant Christian population.
“Fighting is still going on in some parts of the city and the streets are totally deserted.”
Colonel Dahiru Abdussalam, commander of a military task force in Yobe State, said the Damaturu unrest started on Monday after authorities arrested a Boko Haram suspect. — AFP.