'Dozens dead' in Nigerian clashes

Muslim-Christian violence raged in Nigeria's northern city of Jos yesterday, where frightened witnesses described dozens dead, churches burned and residents fleeing their homes or banding together for protection.

President Olusegun Obasanjo authorised deployment of the army and appealed for peace in an emotional broadcast on state radio. Authorities imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew to try stem the bloodletting, which broke out on Friday evening at the time of Muslim prayers.

Terrified residents said the fighting persisted yesterday. Mary Dung, a Christian resident of a neighbourhood in southern Jos, described smoke rising from burning homes around the city, 620 miles north-east of Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos.

Bands of Christian and Muslim youths were exchanging gunfire on her street. "One of my neighbours was shot in front of my face," she said. Isa Abdulsalam, a Jos-based journalist with the Guardian daily, said he counted 10 bodies during one brief trip. Other residents said they saw dozens.

Main roads in the hilltop city of four million people were blocked by youths armed with guns, machetes, clubs and other weapons, witnesses said.

The introduction of Sharia, Islamic law, in some northern states last year sparked strife between Christians and Muslims in which hundreds were killed. Jos, whose leaders are mainly Christian, has rejected the implementation of Sharia.