Nigeria: curfew in Plateau State after attack on Muslim pilgrims
Plateau State is under curfew for 24 hours as tensions increase between Christian and Muslim communities.
© KOLA SULAIMON / AFP
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2 min
The Plateau State government has declared a 24-hour curfew throughout Jos, after having already imposed 12-hour curfews on Jos Nord and two other local governments.
On Saturday August 14, a bus convoy carrying pilgrims was attacked.
22 people were killed and dozens injured.
Inter-community tensions are mounting as attacks and reprisals have followed one another for three weeks in the region.
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With our correspondent in Lagos,
Moïse Gomis
Since Saturday and the
death of Muslim pilgrims
in the attack on their convoy in Jos, Governor Simon Lalong has been increasing calls for calm.
He asks the residents of Plateau State to avoid any action or comment that could further aggravate the situation.
The governor's decision to put Jos under curfew since Sunday afternoon for 24 hours can also be explained by the multiplication of the hotbed of tensions.
Risk of conflagration
Since the recent murder of three women from the Irigwe community on their farms on August 10, nerves have been on the edge of the Irigwe.
Some of these members are accused by the police of being the attackers of the buses attacked on Saturday.
While regretting the death of the Muslim pilgrims, Davidson Malison, a spokesperson for the Irigwe calls for an impartial investigation.
And he also deplores the silence of the six victims from his community out of the 70 people killed over the past three weeks.
These deaths are linked to the clashes of Bassa, Riyom, Jos Sud and Barkin Ladi.
These attacks and reprisals are worrying, as they are becoming common in Plateau State.
And day after day the gains recorded following the restoration of peace by Governor Lalong are dwindling.
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