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Hundreds killed in Nigerian 'genocide'
5.16PM, Thu May 6 2004
A Muslim community leader in the Nigerian town of Yelwa has said 630 bodies were buried in the town after an attack by Christian militia over the weekend. The previous estimate of those killed by ethnic Tarok Christians was said to have been around 300, according to Justice Abdulkadir Orire, secretary-general of the Jama'atu Nasril Islam. He described the killings with machineguns in the remote farming town as "genocide" as women and children were also slaughtered. Conflict between the Christian Tarok and Muslim Fulani is rooted in competing claims over fertile land at the heart of Africa's most populous nation. It is also fuelled by religious and ethnic differences. Orire, a leader of Nigeria's 60 million Muslims, criticised Plateau state governor Joshua Dariye, a Christian, saying he had not taken care of the region's people. Police stationed in Yelwa were withdrawn four days before the attack, he said. President Olusegun Obasanjo has ordered hundreds of riot police to the area and state deputy governor Michael Botmang told soldiers to shoot "troublemakers" on sight and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew. Ethnic, religious and political violence in Nigeria has killed more than 11,000 people since President Obasanjo's election in 1999 ended 15 years of military rule. Nigeria's population of 130 million is roughly evenly split between Christians and Muslims.
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