
Nigerian soldiers (BBC)
The violence in Nigeria has been widely reported as Christians attacking Muslims. Most reports ignored the fact that those attacks were in response to many earlier attacks by jihadists. By early April, 1,500 Christians had been killed, and 173 churches destroyed.
This is not to say that anything the Christians might have done, or might do, is justified. But it exposes the hypocrisy of the media establishment. First, jihad violence against Christians is ignored. Then, retaliation by Christians is reported as if it were unprovoked violence against Muslims.
A flash from Compass Direct, with thanks to FreedomNowNews:
JOS, Nigeria, May 7 (Compass) — Fresh religious violence has erupted in Yelwa town in the central state of Plateau, Nigeria, two months after Muslim militants killed a pastor and 48 members of his church there on February 23. The latest Muslim-Christian clash has resulted in the deaths of 350 people and the disappearance of 250 women and children, according to police reports.
Meanwhile, more than 120 people were reportedly killed and thousands more displaced by inter-religious violence in the northern state of Taraba in late April.
The latest crisis in Yelwa erupted in the early hours of Sunday, May 2. Victims who fled to the state capital of Jos said that more than 1,000 houses and religious buildings had been destroyed by fire. …
According to news reports yesterday from the Associated Press and Agence France Press (AFP), land disputes between members of the predominantly Christian Tarok tribe and Muslim Hausa-Fulani farmers sparked the violence in Yelwa. A Muslim city councilman told AFP reporters that at least 630 persons, most of them Muslims, had died in the fighting.
Local Christian sources said the crisis is linked to recent attacks on Christian villages in the area by Muslim extremists. They believe because only Muslims remained in Yelwa following the February 23 murders, aggrieved Christians carried out last Sunday’s attack in reprisal for the earlier assault.
Muslim-Christian violence broke out in the northern state of Taraba in late April, causing the death of over 120 people and leaving thousands more displaced.
The crisis reportedly erupted on April 27 in Sarkin Kudu and Dampar villages in Ibi local government area of the state. Local sources said an Easter Sunday attack by Muslim militants on Christian villages in the nearby state of Plateau provoked the Taraba violence.
“Christians in Plateau state believe that these two villages, Sarkin Kudu and Dampar, are operational bases for Muslim militants who use them to attack Christian villages in that state,” Alhaji Lawal Mohammed, a Muslim and the chairman of Ibi local government council, told Compass. “And because of this, the religious crisis has now spread into our state.”
The Muslim political leader confirmed the 120 casualties, adding that he is shaken by the crisis. Mohammed then called on the Nigerian government, as a matter of urgency, to deploy soldiers to the area in order to check the spread of anarchy.
In response to the tensions, Plateau state officials have created a peace committee to network with Taraba, Benue, and Nasarawa state governments. The peace committee is seeking a viable solution to the religious conflict that has engulfed the three states in recent months.
“We have contacted Taraba, Benue and Nasarawa states to check their borders to prevent unnecessary encroachment,” Michael Botmang, deputy governor of Plateau state, told Compass yesterday. “On our part, we have sent enough security personnel to the borders to prevent an influx of the Muslim militants.”
Over the Easter weekend, Muslim militants launched attacks against predominantly Christian villages in Plateau. Government sources reported only three Christian victims from those attacks, as opposed to the 20 deaths reported by eyewitnesses. About 20,000 refugees fled the area as a result of the violence.”