Clashes left at least one person dead and a number of houses burned in the Nigerian city of Jos on Sunday amid tensions following a series of Christmas Eve bomb attacks that killed dozens. Soldiers patrolled the streets of the central Nigerian city and authorities sought to keep the violence from further spreading after Friday's bombs that claimed at least 32 lives.
Previous outbreaks of violence between Christian and Muslim ethnic groups have killed hundreds, and the bombs added a worrying new dimension to the unrest ahead of April elections.
"There were some skirmishes between the two groups and it's under control now," state police commissioner Abdulrahman Akano told AFP. "One or two houses were burnt."
Asked about deaths, he said, "we have seen only one - one person." An AFP correspondent said at least two houses burned and heavy smoke was coming from another area of the city. He also said crowds ran through the streets earlier in the day, with some claiming people had been killed.
The commissioner said the two groups involved in the clashes were "the locals and the so-called settlers." Christians from the Berom ethnic group are typically referred to as the indigenes in the region, while Hausa-Fulani Muslims are seen as the more recent arrivals. Many attribute unrest in the region to the struggle for political and economic power between the groups.
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