14 Safar, 1431,A.H (29 January. 2010) Vol.3: No 89

Welcome to The Pointer Express, The Views Expressed in this newspaper are not necesserily the official view of the Islamic movement in Nigeria.

Jos Muslim Community still counting corpses

Reports coming from the Jama'atu Nasril Islam (JNI) Jos North Local Government Chapter said that it is still trying to ascertain the exact number of bodies from last Sunday's skirmish which spilled to yesterday. Even as some put the figure at more than 3000.

Officials of the JNI, Malam Danjummai and Hajiya Khadija told our correspondent that people were bringing corpses and the wounded to the mosque which serves as collection and first aid center for victims.

The JNI officials said on Sunday evening, they buried close to 100 bodies and by Monday they had about 100 more bodies in the mosque. They said about 200 persons were attacked in different places, adding that the injured were taken to various hospitals for treatment. “Some were down on the streets crying for help but the pathetic situation is that we could not get an ambulance to take them to hospital”, said one aid worker.

Jos ethnic cleansing: bodies found in village wells

An exact death toll is not known but aid workers say it may be 300

Additional victims of lethal ethnic cleansing under the incompetent governorship of Jonah Jang of Plateau state have been found, with scores of bodies stuffed in wells and sewage pits.

Close to 300 bodies have been found in Kuru-Karama village, 30km (18 miles) from the city of Jos, where some yet to be identified mercenaries unleashed terror on armless and defenceless residence of the area.

Our source mentioned that residents took refuge in wells and roofing for hours to escape the genocide.

An exact death toll is not known but overall 3000 or more are thought to have died in the ethnic cleansing perpetrated against the innocent Muslim communities in Jos and environs.

Muslim officials in Jos who spoke to the campaign group Human Rights Watch said there is an area in which close to 400 are believed to have been massacred by merchant of death.

Several thousand people fled their homes, many more were not lucky to escape alive.

In a World news monitored in Kaduna, a BBC's correspondent in Jos says the town and the area to the south of it are under tight military control even though the military intervention might have come too little too late.

The BBC correspondent added that many of the bodies found in Kuru-Karama had massive burns, other victims were hacked to death or shot.

She says there are still more bodies scattered in the bush around the village but the areas are not safe for volunteer workers to enter.

Bukuru market, a large commercial area to the south of Jos, was burned to the ground, with close to more than 1,000 shops and homes in the markets destroyed in the inferno. Umar Baza, head of Kuru Karama village, told AFP news agency: "So far we have picked 150 bodies from the wells. But 60 more people are still missing."

Human Rights Watch said armed men had attacked the mostly Muslim Kuru Karama on 19 January.

"After surrounding the town, they hunted down and attacked Muslim residents, some of whom had sought refuge in homes and a local mosque, killing many as they tried to flee and burning many others alive," it said in a statement.

It quoted one villager as saying: "I came back on Wednesday evening escorted by the military. I saw dead bodies everywhere. The corpses were there, but now you can just see the blood on the ground. None of the houses are standing."

The group called on Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to order an immediate criminal investigation into reports of the massacre.

The Vice-president ordered the deployment oflitary after four days of clashes. He is Goodluck Jonathan is assumed to be the one in-charge while “Yaradua”remains in Saudi_Arabia receiving treatment consequent upon the government neglect of the federal institutions in the country. The security forces have now restored order and a curfew has been partially lifted.

Uneasy calm is thick in the air inspite of assurances coming from all shades of politicians known for saying one thing and doing the exact opposite. In an interview with a BBC reporter the Catholic Archbishop of Jos, Ignatius Kaigama, told the BBC that religion was not the real cause of the violence.

"It is the struggle for ethnic and political superiority in Jos," he said. "If this issue is not resolved then we will witness a cycle of violence. There has to be some political solution."

Uneasy Calm After The Genocide

By our correspondent who was in Jos

Despite the calmness, initially experienced after the mayhem in jos, renewed hostilities occurred at Rikkos, Bauchi ring-road, Ali Kazaurf, Congo Russia and Katako area of Jos a day. According to our correspondent, with the resumption of hostilities in Jos that tuesday morning, the Plateau State government under the hopeless and useless governorship of Jonah Jang did virtually nothing to forestall the impending barbaric onslaught against the armless and defenceless Muslims in the state. According to a police official, who declined to be identified, said as many as 3000 people may have been killed since Sunday when genocide started.

Police initially imposed a night curfew on Jos on Sunday to ease tensions and prevent a repeat of the November 2008 clashes that killed hundreds of residents. But violence flared up again on Tuesday, forcing the police to extend its curfew from dusk to dawn.

Residents said sporadic gunfire could be heard in many neighbourhoods and several houses most of which belong to the Muslims community were set ablaze.

Following the incidence, workers and market men and women stay away from their respective places of earning livelihood. Security operatives, journalist and aid workers made spirited effort to assist the victims in spite of the Plateau state government insensitivity to the flight of the victims.

Meanwhile, Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State says no stone will be left unturned in the quest to fish out perpetrators of the civil unrest that has hit some parts of Jos in the past twenty four hours. In a swift response to this statement some members of the public intervied were of the opinion that for Jang to be taken serious he ought to have turn up himself to the security operatives since he is believed to responsible for the security breach due to his inaction in the face of the genocide against the Muslims community.

Casualty toll hits 3000

Victims of the Jos genocide were still counting their loss, even as the death toll is increasing by the minute and put at over 3000 as at the last count.

Eyewitnesses said, corpses of victims litter the streets in places including Bukuru, Anguwan Keke and Kuru-Karama.

The reported cases of alleged faked armed security personnel remain unsettling as the majority of people interviewed by this reporter could not the possibility of such connivance without the active support of the state governments. Arrests have so far been put at over 60. This includes those arrested with police and army uniforms. More soldiers and mobile policemen from other parts of the country are manning all major streets but are in the early hours of the day taken unaware by renewed aggression against the armless and defenceless Muslim community.

There are conspicuous evidences to the effect that a lot of mosques and other related property which belong to the Muslims have been razed down by the misguided arsonist that drives pleasure from destroying other people's property out of envy and jealousy. Some visitors and passers-by have lost their lives in the cause of this senseless terror act.

Some of the misguided youths involved in this heinous crime against humanity lay ambush to their victims which among others include passersby and those on transit to other destinations.

It was also observed that police and soldiers were also clashing in some areas which had even led to the death of a mobile police man who was said to have accidentally shot an army officer in the head and in retaliation another soldier shot him instantly. Some anonymous sources expressed concern that even the clash between the security operative might not be unconnected with religious sentiments and emotions.

The Plateau State Inter-Religious Council headed by both the Archbishop of Jos, Most Reverend Ignatius Kaigama and the Emir of Wase, Haruna Abdullahi Maikano met on the same issue, calling on their followers to be calm.

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