58 Christians Slaughtered By Muslims - Religion of Peace?

An Islamic rampage in Nigeria has left 58 dead.

Raids and reprisal attacks have left 58 people dead in Christian villages near a Nigerian city where authorities have struggled to contain religious violence, officials said Sunday.

Assailants launched "sophisticated attacks" on several villages near Jos early Saturday, said Mustapha Salisu, spokesman for a special taskforce made up of policemen and soldiers deployed in the area to curb years of violence.

"They came in hundreds," Salisu said. "Some had (police) uniforms and some even had bulletproof vests."

Another 50 were burned alive in their pastor's home.

With no let-up in the violence, which started on Saturday in Plateau State, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Gyang Dantong, and a member of the state House of Assembly representing Barkin Ladi Constituency, Hon. Gyang Fulani, were among scores of mourners killed yesterday in Matse village, Riyom Local Government Area by suspected Fulani gunmen.

The two lawmakers were reportedly killed when the gunmen invaded the village as they were attending a mass burial for 63 victims of Saturday's attack in Karkuruk, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of the state.

Another lawmaker, Hon. Simon Davou Mwadkwon, a member of the House of Representatives representing Barkin Ladi/Riyom Federal Constituency and Chairman of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, Mr. Emmanuel Lomang, narrowly escaped death.

However, Mwadkwon is on the danger list at the Barkin Ladi General Hospital where he was rushed with injuries sustained in the attack.

The incident, which saw the unconfirmed death toll rise from the attack and the reprisal to 104, forced the state government to impose a dusk-to-dawn curfew on four local government areas in the state.

Another 50 more bodies, linked to the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), were reportedly discovered in the house of a pastor in Matse.

The bodies were suspected to be those who ran for safety to the pastor's house as they were being pursued by the suspected Fulani attackers. But Fulani community leaders denied that their people had done anything wrong.