Clashes erupt in Nigeria

Deadly Christmas eve bombings:

NIGERIA: Soldiers were patrolling the streets of the central Nigerian city of Jos Monday, a day after ethnic clashes there left at least one person dead. The latest violence came just two days after Christmas Eve bombings in the city that killed at least 32 people, raising fears ahead of the country’s April elections.

Hundreds of people have died in previous outbreaks of violence between Christian and Muslim ethnic groups.

“There were some skirmishes between the two groups and it’s under control now,” state police commissioner Abdulrahman Akano told AFP. “One or two houses were burnt.”

Asked about deaths, he said, “we have seen only one — one person.”

An AFP correspondent said at least two houses burned and heavy smoke was coming from another area of the city. He also said crowds ran through the streets earlier in the day, with some claiming people had been killed.

The commissioner said the two groups involved in the clashes were “the locals and the so-called settlers.”

Christians from the Berom ethnic group are typically referred to as the indigenes in the region, while Hausa-Fulani Muslims are seen as the more recent arrivals.

Many attribute unrest in the region to the struggle for political and economic power between the groups.

A spokesman for the governor of Plateau state, where Jos is the capital, said authorities had been deployed to control youths earlier Sunday, but he could not say what had occurred.

“There was tension in certain parts of the town where the bombs exploded,” said the spokesman, James Mannok.

The US embassy issued a statement condemning the violence.

Jos, Monday, AFP