Nigerian soldiers open fire on youths; 2 killed
Soldiers opened fire on a crowd after curfew and killed two people, witnesses said Wednesday, just days after fighting between Christians and Muslims in the area left more than 200 dead including dozens of children.
Hundreds of people swarmed the streets of Jos on Wednesday morning, where one truck's windshield was a spider web of bullet holes with the word "rejoice" scrawled on it.
Residents had tried to stop the truck late Tuesday from entering the town after curfew late Tuesday, fearing it was carrying fighters or weapons. They have accused police and military of failing to provide security to the villages that were attacked Sunday morning.
The military later arrived, asked the youth to leave, and then opened fire on them and the truck. Two were killed and five others were wounded, said Angela Ogobri, a nurse from a local hospital.
An Army colonel prevented AP reporters from seeing the dead. The truck was later found to be carrying only cattle and baskets.
At least 200 people, most of them Christians, were slaughtered on Sunday in several villages near Jos, according to residents, aid groups and journalists. The violence comes after sectarian killings in this region in January left more than 300 dead, most of them Muslims.
Nigeria is almost evenly split between Muslims in the north and the predominantly Christian south. The recent bloodshed has been happening in central Nigeria, in Nigeria's "middle belt," where dozens of ethnic groups vie for control of fertile lands.
The killings add to the tally of thousands who already have perished in Africa's most populous country in the last decade due to religious and political frictions. Rioting in September 2001 killed more than 1,000 people. Muslim-Christian battles killed up to 700 people in 2004. More than 300 residents died during a similar uprising in 2008.
Related information:
Nigeria (pronounced /naɪˈdʒɪəriə/), officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The three largest and most influential ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. In terms of religion Nigeria is roughly split half and half between Muslims and Christians with a very small minority who practice traditional religions.
The people of Nigeria have an extensive history. Archaeological evidence shows that human habitation of the area dates back to at least 9000 BC.[4] The area around the Benue and Cross River is thought to be the original homeland of the Bantu migrants who spread across most of central and southern Africa in waves between the 1st millennium BC and the 2nd millennium.
The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was coined by Flora Shaw, the future wife of Baron Lugard, a British colonial administrator, in the late 19th century.
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, the eighth most populous country in the world, and the most populous country in the world in which the majority of the population is 'black'. It is listed among the "Next Eleven" economies, and is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The economy of Nigeria is one of the fastest growing in the world, with the International Monetary Fund projecting a growth of 9% in 2008 and 8.3% in 2009.[5][6][7][8] It is the second largest economy in Africa, and is a regional power that is also the hegemon in West Africa.
Link to this page
