Mainstream media vagueness and passive voice: “At least seven people were killed and several others wounded when gunmen set fire to a home as they attacked a Christian village…” Gunmen. Now what kind of gunmen would want to attack a Christian village? “7 killed in central Nigeria violence,” from PTI, May 10 (thanks to Wimpy):
Abuja, May 10 (PTI) At least seven people were killed and several others wounded when gunmen set fire to a home as they attacked a Christian village today near Nigeria”s volatile city of Jos, officials said.
The attackers shot at anybody who tried to escape the inferno, killing seven. They also wounded several others in the village of Tahoss, inhabited by Christians.
Police spokesman, Samuel Dabai confirmed the incident adding that the police have started investigating.
Jos city which is the capital of Nigeria”s central state of Plateau has been a flashpoint of conflict between Christians and Muslims and the neighbouring villages are just starting to feel the heat of the conflict which started with the question of who is an indigene and who constitutes a settler.
Hundreds of people have died in internecine crisis involving ethnic Fulanis and Beroms in Jos and its environs.
Majority of the Fulanis are Muslims while the Beroms are mostly Christians.
Last November, violence in the city left 15 people dead including a police officer identified as Dalyop Pinda.
Eyewitnesses said two churches, an Islamic school and twenty other buildings were burnt in clashes that erupted after the killing of three youths of ethnic Berom by ethnic Fulani herdsmen.
The Beroms in reprisal went after the herdsmen resulting in the death of four others believed to be Fulanis and this sparked an internecine hostility between the two ethnic groups.
On August 14, an overnight attack by unidentified assailants led to the death of ten persons and an outbreak of violence in Jos as irate youths took to the streets to protest the killings.
Sometimes the clashes take religious colouration as Christians attack Muslims or vice versa.
Media moral equivalence. The Christians of Nigeria are victims of a jihad. Sometimes they fight back.