Corpses burnt in religious riots
2006-02-24 09:52
Onitsha - Christians in this southern Nigerian city burned Muslim corpses and defaced wrecked mosques after days of sectarian strife that had killed more than 120 people across the country.
With 80 people killed, Onitsha had borne the brunt of the violence that followed weekend protests over the publication of cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.
A Muslim district of about 100 homes was burned to the ground, and crumpled corrugated tin roofs lay on top of the remains of smouldering houses on Thursday.
He said: "We don't want these mosques here anymore. These people are causing all the problems all over the world because they don't fear God."
Three bodies burned
He angrily scrawled "Muhammad is a man, but Jesus is from above" with a burned stick on a shattered wall.
At least nine charred bodies laid in dirt streets as passers-by hurried past, holding cloths to their noses against the stench. Three other bodies burned on a pyre of flaming tires.
About 5 000 Muslims fled the city and took refuge across the Niger River in the neighbouring town of Asaba. Several hundred sat beneath trees at a police barracks there, asking for help to travel northward as babies wailed.
Trucks that usually carry fruit and other goods to market were packed with Muslims heading north. It was not known how many Muslims lived in Onitsha.
Islamic Shariah law
Adam Mohamed, a 40-year-old Muslim motorcycle mechanic, said mobs attacked and robbed Muslims as they fled across a bridge connecting the two cities.
Mohamed said: "Some were killed. Others were thrown from the bridge into the water. These people attacked us, burnt our mosques and killed our people. But, by God's grace, I escaped."
Thousands of Nigerians had died in sectarian strife since 2000, after mostly Muslim northern states began implementing Islamic Shariah law.
Nigeria's 130 million people were almost entirely split between the two faiths, with Christians a majority in the south.
25 people dead
The most recent killings began after Muslims protested against the cartoons on Saturday in Maiduguri turned violent and 18 people, mostly Christians, were slain.
Twenty-five died in similar violence in the northern city of Bauchi, sparking reprisals against Muslims in Onitsha.
A spokesperson for the Nigerian Red Cross, Umo Okon, said 925 people were killed, injured or displaced in violence in Onitsha for the past two days.
Emeka Umeh, who heads Civil Liberties Organisation, a leading human rights group, said at least 60 people were killed in Onitsha on Tuesday, followed by 20 on Wednesday. Most Muslims in the city on Thursday seemed resigned to their fate.
Abdul Salaam Danbuzu, a 26-year-old shepherd from Niger, said: "The prophet told us to accept what happens to us because it is our destiny. We're a small community and now we must all leave. All we can do is run."
- AP