KADUNA VIOLENCE: Killings continue as rioters defy curfew

Students of Kaduna State Technical College going home due to the 24 hours curfew imposed on Kaduna on Wednesday. NAN Photo.

Heavy fighting, killings and burning of property continued, yesterday, in Hausa/Fulani dominated parts of Kaduna, as the minority non-Muslims in the areas tried to fight back despite the 24-hour curfew imposed over the entire state. This came as Pope Benedict XVI has appealed to those  responsible for the violence to stop spilling innocent blood.
As the battle raged, trapped residents who were unable to leave their homes as a result of the 24-hour curfew imposed by the government have cried out saying they were running out of food, medicine and water.
Meanwhile, worried by the spate of killings and destruction, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Olusheyin Petinrin and the Acting Inspector General of Police, M D Abubakar held a closed-door meeting with Governor Patrick Yakowa on how to bring normalcy to the state.

The violence was in retaliation to mass killings of Hausa Muslims and the destruction of their property by Christian youths in Kaduna after Islamist militants bombed two churches in Zaria and one in Kaduna last Sunday, killing 17 and injuring several others.
In Bardarawa, north of Kaduna town,fighting raged between Muslims and non-Muslims around 4pm yesterday.
There were reports of killings and burning of homes of mainly non Hausas, but it was also said that youths in some parts of the area, were retaliating.
Meanwhile, casualty continued to rise at the time of this report from findings by Vanguard.

VANGUARD NEWSPAPER