Religious 'war' claims 96
2006-02-23 00:16
Lagos - Bodies littered the streets of the southern Nigerian city of Onitsha on Wednesday as the death toll from days of Christian-Muslim violence across Nigeria rose to at least 96.
"I've counted more than 20 people killed today," said Onitsha resident Isotonu Achor after gangs of rioters armed with machetes and shotguns poured through the mainly Christian city.
A police official earlier said five Hausas had been killed in the neighbouring city of Asaba, where thousands of Muslims had fled after the Onitsha riots.
Frank Nweke, a magazine editor, who ran the gauntlet of the mob to escape Onitsha and made it to the bridge, told reporters that he had seen 15 more corpses lying in the streets of the city.
Some of them had been beheaded, others had had their genitals removed.
- AP