NIGERIA: Wounded survivors speak about what happened to them during religious rioting in northern Nigeria that killed at least 52 people

Record ID: 235702

  • Title: NIGERIA: Wounded survivors speak about what happened to them during religious rioting in northern Nigeria that killed at least 52 people
  • Date: 20th June 2012
  • Summary: KADUNA, NIGERIA (JUNE 18, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL PEOPLE TRYING TO FIND THEIR RELATIVES IN HOSPITAL WARDS VARIOUS OF INJURED VICTIMS IN HOSPITAL BEDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ST. GERALD CATHOLIC HOSPITAL SPOKESMAN, SUNDAY JONAH, SAYING: "Eleven of the casualties were brought here since yesterday, the number of victims that we have been managing are 72, the dead are 39 and the government have collected all the corpses from this hospital. This is the situation we find ourselves in now." VARIOUS OF INJURED VICTIMS IN HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) DAILY INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER PHOTO JOURNALIST, NATHANIEL JIRBIN, SAYING: "I am a photo journalist, I work with the Daily Independent newspapers. Yesterday after the (church) service, a colleague called me about a bombing on the north expressway and I rushed home, got my camera and headed out there, but on the way to the IDB area, I got off the bus to cross the road and all of a sudden people started beating me with cutlass, sticks and other things, they cut my head, you can even see my eyes are swollen. I couldn't get out of there. Two good Samaritans carried me to this place unconscious." VARIOUS OF INJURED VICTIMS IN HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEMBER OF BOMBED CHURCH, MICHAEL EBINEDUM, SAYING: "The driver was afraid to turn around and before we knew it they started hitting the vehicle...they dragged me out of the vehicle I ran a bit, but before I knew it...sticks all over my body and they broke my head." EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL
  • Embargoed: 5th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Conflict,Politics,Religion,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA4J1WVXWEN5W2H8VME0ZS9DX7N
  • Story Text: The victims of religious rioting in Nigeria, sparked by three suicide bombings against churches, say they were attacked by mobs with knives and sticks on Monday (June 18).
    At least 52 people were killed in the rioting in northern Nigeria and many of the victims were brought to the St. Gerald Catholic Hospital in the city of Kaduna.
    St Gerald Hospital spokesman Sunday Aliyu said most of the people were being treated for burns and other wounds.
    "Eleven of the casualties were brought here since yesterday, the number of victims that we have been managing are 72, the dead are 39 and the government have collected all the corpses from this hospital. This is the situation we find ourselves in now," St. Gerald Catholic Hospital spokesman, Sunday Jonah, said.
    The rioting broke out on Sunday (June 17) after suicide car bombers attacked three churches in northern Nigeria, killing at least 19 people and wounding dozens.
    Witnesses said Christian youths had set up roadblocks and dragged Muslims from cars or motorbikes and killed them.
    "I am a photo journalist, I work with the Daily Independent newspapers. Yesterday after the (church) service, a colleague called me about a bombing on the north expressway and I rushed home, got my camera and headed out there, but on the way to the IDB area, I got off the bus to cross the road and all of a sudden people started beating me with cutlass, sticks and other things, they cut my head, you can even see my eyes are swollen. I couldn't get out of there. Two good Samaritans carried me to this place unconscious," photojournalist, Nathaniel Jirbin, said.
    A 24-hour curfew imposed by the Kaduna state government on Sunday (June 17) largely succeeded in restoring order, residents said.
    The violence stoked fears of wider sectarian conflict in Nigeria, an OPEC member and Africa's top oil producer that is home to the world's largest equal mix of Christians and Muslims.
    "The driver was afraid to turn around and before we knew it they started hitting the vehicle...they dragged me out of the vehicle I ran a bit, but before I knew it...sticks all over my body and they broke my head," member of a bombed church, Michael Ebinedum, said.
    Although there has been no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's church bombings, Islamist sect Boko Haram, which is waging an insurgency in the northeast against President Goodluck Jonathan's government, had claimed deadly church attacks on the previous two Sundays, as well as others.
    Boko Haram church bombings seem calculated to trigger wider sectarian strife, often striking at the heart of Nigeria's volatile "Middle Belt", where the mostly Christian south and Muslim north meet.
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