Graham's Uncommon Place : CHRISTIAN FAMILY HACKED TO DEATH BY MUSLIM YOUTHS IN NIGERIA

Thursday, September 08, 2011

CHRISTIAN FAMILY HACKED TO DEATH BY MUSLIM YOUTHS IN NIGERIA

A Christian family of eight were hacked to death by Muslim youths in an outbreak of sectarian violence that resulted in more than 50 fatalities in Nigeria’s volatile Plateau State.Country: NIGERIA, AFRICA

The father, mother and six children were butchered in the village of Tatu, where three Muslims were also killed, on Sunday (4 September). At least four more people died in an attack on the predominantly Christian village of Dabwak.

Christians in Plateau State frequently come under attack

And more than 40 Muslims and Christians were killed in Plateau’s capital city, Jos, last week when fighting broke out as Muslims gathered to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Many residents said that the security forces were responsible for most of the deaths, using excessive force to end the violence.

Riyom, another village in Plateau State, was spared similar carnage when a bomb planted in a marketplace failed to detonate because its battery had run flat.

Plateau State in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, where the predominantly Muslim north meets the mainly Christian south, is often beset by sectarian tensions. As well as religious conflict, there is political rivalry, with Christians mostly supporting the People’s Democratic Party while Muslims generally support the opposition. More than 1,000 people have been killed in sectarian violence in Jos over the past two years.

MUSLIM MILITANTS

Tensions have been high in Nigeria since the re-election of Christian President Goodluck Jonathan in April. Christians have been brutally and systematicallyattacked by Muslims, angry at the defeat of Muslim candidate Muhammadu Buhari.

Radical Islamist sect Boko Haram, which is fighting to establish an Islamic state in the North, is carrying out near daily attacks in the north-east, targeting Christians, security officers, politicians and Muslim opponents. On Sunday, an outspoken Muslim cleric who had criticised the group was shot dead in a raid by suspected Boko Haram militants in Maiduguri.

The group claimed responsibility for a bomb blast at the United Nations’ Abuja headquarters on 26 August that killed 23 people and wounded a further 81.