Violence in south-eastern city of Aba

Many people are believed to have died in clashes between Muslims and Christians in the southeastern city of Aba on Monday in apparent reprisal for last week's religious riots in the northern town of Kaduna, news organisations reported.

During the disturbances in the trading city of Aba, local Igbo youths burned the central mosque and, according to 'The Guardian,' witnesses said some victims were set on fire. A media source in Nigeria told IRIN on Tuesday that news reports put the casualty figures in Aba at between 20 and 60. Police reinforcements have now been drafted into the town and a
dusk-to-dawn curfew has been declared, the source said.

Local Igbo youths in Aba are reported to have attacked people they thought to be Muslims in angry response to the return of bodies of victims to Aba from Kaduna, 'The Guardian' reported on Tuesday. Some Igbos, who originate mainly from the southeast of Nigeria, were caught up in the religious violence in Kaduna and it is thought this led to heightened tensions in Aba, according to the BBC.

Hundreds of people are reported to have died in Kaduna during several days of fighting between Muslims and Christians over the proposed introduction of Islamic Sharia law. Most Muslims live in the north of the country, although Kaduna's population is approximately equally divided between Muslims and Christians.