Nigerian Clashes Kill About 200 Near Jos, Christian Group Says

March 7 (Bloomberg) -- About 200 people, most of them Christians, died in renewed sectarian violence in central Nigeria, according to Mark Lipdo, the spokesman for a Christian non-governmental organization said.

The killings occurred early today in the village of Dogo na Hauwa, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) south of the city of Jos, which has been at the center of deadly Christian-Muslim tension.

More than 400 people died and 4,000 people were injured in three days of clashes between Christians and Muslims that occurred in Jos in mid January, according to Civil Rights Congress, a Nigerian human rights group.

There are conflicting accounts of why that violence broke out in the city, which is about 200 kilometers northeast of the West African country’s capital, Abuja. Some reports blame a dispute over the rebuilding of a house destroyed in a clash more than a year ago, while the city’s police said it was the result of an attack by Muslims on Christians in a church, according to Human Rights Watch.