10 houses burnt, 4 Killed as Muslims, Christians clash in Plateau

 

At least four persons were feared killed and 10 houses burnt as a result of a clash between Christians and Muslims in Babale village of Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The peace, hitherto enjoyed in the area, despite series of crisis that engulfed Jos, the state capital in recent times, was disrupted on Tuesday, when a car that was trying to avoid a ditch ran into a motorcycle and killed the rider and the passengers. The mayhem that followed spilled over to yesterday.
Daily Times gathered that, the Peugeot 406 station wagon,

driven by one Samsudeen Mohammad Umar, of Number 6, Rikkos New Layout, was on high speed on the Jos-Bauchi road, when he noticed a ditch by the roadside, but in his bid to avoid running into it and somersaulting, knocked down the motorcycle rider and his two passengers who were Christians and residents of the village.
This however made the villagers to rush out and in seeing the gravity of the accident, some of them insisted that the ditch, which was dug by a church within that vicinity, must be closed up. The ditch was part of the safety measures put in place by the church to force drivers plying the Jos- Bauchi road to slow down and avoid knocking down their church members, an eye witness said.
While some villagers insisted that the ditch must be closed up especially as it had caused a lot of accidents to those not familiar with the route, the Christians, especially the church members insisted that the ditch must remain saying that the death of the two persons on the motorcycle was as a result of the carelessness and over-speeding of the vehicle owner.
The ensuing argument led to the clash between the Christians and Muslims and as the news spread so also were the two groups taking up arms against one another.
It was further gathered that in less than two hours no fewer than 10 houses had been torched and two more people killed.
As at the time of filing this report, fighting was still going on in the village while policemen had been drafted to the area to maintain peace.
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Emmanuel Abu, who confirmed the story, blamed the youth for the rampage. He said they became violent and started destroying properties.
He confirmed the arrest of two persons in connection with the incident while investigation is still going on.