Nigeria
Mobs formed across the Nigerian city of Jos on Wednesday, a reporter for the press agency AFP saw, appearing to lead to the deaths of two people.
The chaos comes after unidentified gunmen killed around 30 people in a bar over the weekend, prompting accusations on social media – without evidence – that Christians were targeted on Palm Sunday, which marks the runup to Easter.
Jos, the capital of Plateau state in northcentral Nigeria, is home to a mixed population of Christians and Muslims, many of whom live peacefully side by side.
But the city is also riven with ethnic and religious tension that has sparked deadly sectarian riots in the past.
An AFP reporter saw a crowd of people form and smash cars, a “keke” tricycle taxi set ablaze, and crowds running for safety.
Elsewhere, the reporter saw two bodies in the street. It’s unclear who formed the mobs or who they were targeting. In the Plateau state countryside, farmers and herders regularly clash over access to land, though the conflict falls across ethnic and religious lines, adding fuel to the fire in a state where ethnicity, religion and who is considered “indigenous” can be politically explosive topics.
A general curfew placed over the city for Monday and Tuesday was thought to have reduced the chance of further attacks – including reprisals – following the Sunday shooting.
Throughout Wednesday morning, security forces sped through the city to disperse crowds, at times shooting into the air. Sunday’s massacre occurred in Anguwan Rukuba, a neighbourhood popular with local university students and staff.
Though most of the victims of the shooting are presumed to be Christian, a local Muslim group said that four of its members were killed in the violence.
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