RoP Burns Churches in Nigeria
Thu, Nov 20, 2003 at 7:22:44 am PST
More Ramadan violence: Muslim rioters burn 13 churches in north Nigeria.
LAGOS, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Islamic militants burned to the ground thirteen churches and several houses in a remote northern Nigerian town after a Christian student was accused of blasphemy, police said on Thursday.Irate youths torched churches, houses and shops late on Tuesday in Kazaure, some 80 km (50 miles) north of Kano, a northern provincial capital where hundreds have died in religious clashes in the past three years.
The dispute began when a Christian student was accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammad and a group of Muslims were not satisfied with the response of school authorities.
Abubakar Sale, police commissioner in the northern Jigawa state, told Reuters that the rioters attempted to invade the school but were repelled by police.
"The hoodlums then mobilised and went into town where they started looting and burning people's property," Sale said by phone from Dutse, the state capital.
"Thirteen churches were burnt, several houses and shops were torched, but there were no deaths," said Keirian Dudari, assistant inspector general of police in Kano.




