Christian body claims 400 dead
2004-05-13 20:20
Lagos - Nigeria's main body representing Christians claimed on Thursday that more than 400 members of its community were killed by Muslim mobs in two days of attacks in the northern city of Kano.
The claim was impossible to verify immediately, and Kano's chief of police, Abdul Ganiyu Dawodu, dismissed it, saying: "We still stick by our figure of 30 killed and 40 hospitalised ... these figures are baseless".
Doctors and Nigerian Red Cross officials would not give an estimate of the death toll, citing fears of provoking further trouble by revealing the figure, but confirmed that the city morgue was full to overflowing.
On Wednesday, police said 30 people were confirmed dead, but Red Cross workers said more bodies were still being discovered on Thursday and taken to undisclosed locations after the main hospital mortuary was filled.
In the absence of official data, the Christian Association of Nigeria (Can), said that residents fleeing the suburbs of Kano during the trouble had reported hundreds of dead. There was no way of independently confirming the figure.
"The 30 people quoted by the police is an understatement. From the reports we got, over 400 people Christians have been killed with more than 10 000 refugees" Saidu Dogo, Can's general secretary for northern Nigeria said.
"We blame the Kano government and the security forces for allowing the violence to extend to the following morning. The government has to stop the violence" he said in a telephone interview.
"We appeal to our brothers and sisters to be calm and not to seek revenge in any way. Christians have a spirit of forgiveness. Those leaving Kano should stay because we are all Nigerians and should be free to live anywhere we like".
Fighting broke out on Tuesday when Muslim youths protesting a bloody May 2 attack by Christian militia on a Muslim community in central Nigeria went on the rampage, targeting Christian homes and businesses.