Death Toll Hits 13 In Latest Jos Clash

 Aug.31, 2011 

13 people died in clashes between Christian youths and Muslims celebrating the Eid-al-Fitr holiday in the Plateau state capital, Jos on Monday, the army and a local hospital said yesterday.

Gangs of armed youths attacked Muslims as they gathered to celebrate the last day of Ramadan, also burning cars and leading some to fight back, witnesses and the military said.

Ishaya Pam, chief medical director of Jos University Teaching Hospital, told journalists 13 bodies of people killed in the violence had been transferred to its mortuary.

“I’ve confirmed the death toll of yesterday’s attacks,” Captain Charles Eckeocha, spokesman of the Special Task Force charged with maintaining order in Jos, said.

“In addition, 60 vehicles including motorcycles were burned, and one soldier was also critically wounded.”

The violence is an additional headache for President Goodluck Jonathan. Security forces are already being accused of failing to prevent near-daily attacks by an Islamist sect in the northeast, which claimed Friday’s deadly bomb attack on U.N. offices in Abuja that killed 23.(Daily Times)