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The Associated Press
Tuesday, December 29, 2009; 12:04 PM BAUCHI, Nigeria -- Fighting between Islamic militants and security
forces in northern Nigeria left at least 38 people dead as sect members
armed with spears, knives, assault rifles and arrows ransacked a
neighborhood and set homes ablaze, police officials said Tuesday.
Mohammed Barau, a police spokesman for Bauchi state, said members of the
Kata Kalo sect began fighting among themselves and accusing each other
of causing their leader to fall seriously ill. He corrected earlier
official statements that the arrest of the sect leader prompted the clash. The fighting spread into the streets of a poor neighborhood near the
city of Bauchi and military forces attempted to stop the violence, Barau
said. Officials said the militants were armed with spears and arrows. The militants' fierce attack sent the military unit into a retreat,
Barau said. At least one soldier and a state security officer died in
the initial clash early Monday morning, officials said, as well as two
bystanders. Barau said military and police units returned to the area in force
later, but "before police got there, they had already killed
themselves." However, extrajudicial killings are common in Nigeria and
an Amnesty International report released in November claims police kill
hundreds each year. Officials said they arrested 20 people after the fighting. Among those
arrested, officials said they found two Kalashnikov assault rifles,
bomb-making materials, 73 knives, gunpowder and ammunition. Barau said the area was under control on Tuesday. "The situation has normalized. Everyone has gone about his normal
business," he said. Nigeria, a country of about 150 million people, is almost split between
Muslims in the north and Christians in the south. Religious violence is
sometimes sparked by local disputes and politics, rather than
international influences. In July, fighting in Bauchi sparked by another Islamic sect's attack on
a police station began a wave of violence across northern Nigeria that
left more than 700 dead.
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