LAGOS, Sep 21 (Reuters) Nigerian authorities have imposed a night curfew on the northern town of Dutse after Muslim mobs burned 11 churches over what they said was blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammad by a Christian woman, police said today.
Scores of houses and shops owned by Christians were also torched in the capital of remote Jigawa state during a riot yesterday sparked by a disagreement between a Muslim man and a Christian woman, police spokesman Haz Iwendi said.
No one was killed in the riot but up to seven people were injured, Iwendi said.
''Eleven churches and so many houses and shops were burned. The house of the Anglican bishop was also ransacked,'' he said, adding that hundreds of Christians fled their homes to military and police barracks fearing further attacks.
''There is now a night curfew in the town and police units from (neighbouring) Kano and Katsina states have been sent there to beef up security,'' Iwendi said.
Religious violence has plagued Nigeria, whose 140 million people are thought to be evenly split between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south, for many years. There are sizeable religious minorities in all areas of the country.
DISPUTES ESCALATE QUICKLY There is often more to the violence, however, than religious differences. Sometimes politicians instigate it for their own ends, and in some cases a small dispute quickly escalates as thugs seize the opportunity to go on a looting spree.
Any deaths in religious fighting usually spark tit-for-tat killings in different parts of the country.
Nigerians are due to elect their president, state governors and lawmakers in landmark polls next April and many fear an increase in religious fighting as tensions rise before the elections.
Joseph Hayab, secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for the northwest, said an argument over Jesus and the Prophet Mohammad sparked the Dutse riot.
''Her comment was in retaliation to uncomplimentary remarks made by her colleague about Jesus,'' Hayab told Reuters.
He said the rioters were angry about the release of the woman, who was briefly detained by police.
Thousands of people have died in religious violence since the restoration of democracy in the world's eighth largest oil exporter in 1999.
At least 50 Christians were killed in the northwestern town of Maiduguri in February, according to CAN. News of the killings sparked reprisals in the southeastern market city of Onitsha, where Christian mobs killed about 100 Muslims.
REUTERS PB PM2312
Scores of houses and shops owned by Christians were also torched in the capital of remote Jigawa state during a riot yesterday sparked by a disagreement between a Muslim man and a Christian woman, police spokesman Haz Iwendi said.
No one was killed in the riot but up to seven people were injured, Iwendi said.
''Eleven churches and so many houses and shops were burned. The house of the Anglican bishop was also ransacked,'' he said, adding that hundreds of Christians fled their homes to military and police barracks fearing further attacks.
''There is now a night curfew in the town and police units from (neighbouring) Kano and Katsina states have been sent there to beef up security,'' Iwendi said.
Religious violence has plagued Nigeria, whose 140 million people are thought to be evenly split between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south, for many years. There are sizeable religious minorities in all areas of the country.
DISPUTES ESCALATE QUICKLY There is often more to the violence, however, than religious differences. Sometimes politicians instigate it for their own ends, and in some cases a small dispute quickly escalates as thugs seize the opportunity to go on a looting spree.
Any deaths in religious fighting usually spark tit-for-tat killings in different parts of the country.
Nigerians are due to elect their president, state governors and lawmakers in landmark polls next April and many fear an increase in religious fighting as tensions rise before the elections.
Joseph Hayab, secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for the northwest, said an argument over Jesus and the Prophet Mohammad sparked the Dutse riot.
''Her comment was in retaliation to uncomplimentary remarks made by her colleague about Jesus,'' Hayab told Reuters.
He said the rioters were angry about the release of the woman, who was briefly detained by police.
Thousands of people have died in religious violence since the restoration of democracy in the world's eighth largest oil exporter in 1999.
At least 50 Christians were killed in the northwestern town of Maiduguri in February, according to CAN. News of the killings sparked reprisals in the southeastern market city of Onitsha, where Christian mobs killed about 100 Muslims.
REUTERS PB PM2312
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