LANGTANG, Nigeria — Religious violence erupted last month in the Nigerian state of Plateau. Residents of predominantly Christian communities in the Langtang district attacked Takbam, Takalafiya and Mabudi villages in retaliation for earlier Muslim aggression against Christians. Muslim village leader Abdulkarim Abdullahi died in the clashes, which left 30 houses burned to the ground and 1,700 head of cattle destroyed.
Sources in Nigeria said residents of the three Muslim villages participated last year in attacks on Christians in Wase district that left churches destroyed and over 30,000 Christians displaced. The Christian refugees, who have since been living in Langtang, launched the February attacks apparently to repel Muslim extremists and reclaim their homes.
In an unrelated incident in southwest Nigeria, followers of the animist god Oriemeyan burned down two churches in the village of Ogute because Christians there failed to observe a moratorium on worship services during the animists’ annual festival of fetish sacrifice.
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