JOS, Nigeria — Angry Muslim youths set a church filled with worshipers ablaze in northern Nigeria, starting a riot that killed at least 27 people and wounded more than 300 others in the latest religious violence in the region, officials said Monday.
About 5,000 people lost their homes as rioters also burned mosques and homes in Jos, a city that saw more than 300 residents killed during a similar uprising in 2008, said local Red Cross official Auwal Muhammad Madobi.
He said he had no information about deaths. Police officials declined to offer a count of the dead.
Sani Mudi, a spokesman for the local imam, said 22 people died Sunday after rioters set fire to a Catholic church, starting a day-long wave of violence between Christians and Muslims. Five others died Monday from their wounds.
The rioting began Sunday when the youths attacked a church, said Gregory Yenlong, a state government spokesman. Yenlong said he didn’t know why the young men set the blaze. “That’s what’s being investigated,” he said.
Police arrested 35 people who they suspect took part in the rioting, Yenlong said.
Musa Pam, secretary of a local Christian elders forum, issued a statement Monday claiming the Muslim youths picked Sunday to launch their attack because they knew Christians would be worshiping at church.
Ahmed Garba, a Muslim lawyer, said he escaped being lynched by a group of Christian youths armed with bows and arrows, knives, stones, and locally made firearms. He watched as they attacked and stabbed three people.
Traffic in the northern Nigerian city remained light Monday, and the few cars traveling met roadblocks and close searches by police and soldiers. Police spokesman Mohammed Lerama said that the site of the rioting remained sealed off but that calm had returned to Jos.
