The central Nigerian city of Jos, where more than 160 people are believed to have been killed in clashes between Christians and Muslims is now reported to be calm.
Some who sought refuge are venturing out again
Some of the thousands of residents who sought refuge with police are said to be venturing out warily on Tuesday.
There were more cars seen on the streets although fuel is in short supply at filling stations. Shops and stalls also remained closed
The weekend clashes, sparked by a minor altercation are the first in Jos, which has a mainly Christian population, although there has been sectarian violence in the past few years in other Nigerian states, which have introduced full Islamic law into their penal codes.
Terrified residents described how armed gangs of youths were roaming the streets, attacking members of other communities.
Rampage
Medical services are battling to cope with the numbers of dead and wounded.
They just came in with their weapons and petrol cans and asked every body out before setting the church ablaze
Pastor James Alalade President An official of the International Red Cross, Phillip Macham, said on Monday that 165 bodies were taken to various hospitals in Jos, but he warned that the final death toll may be even higher.
He said that, in addition, more than 900 had been injured as rival gangs rampaged through the city of four million people.
The northern city of Kano was on Monday also hit by an outbreak of communal clashes, with a church set on fire.
'No link'
James Alalade, a pastor of the burnt church in Kano, told Reuters news agency: "They (youths) just came in with their weapons and petrol in cans and asked everybody out before setting the church ablaze. Nobody could stop them, they were heavily armed."
Kano has been the scene of more than a dozen violent religious clashes in the past 20 years but police said there was no link to the violence in Jos.
"What happened here (Kano) has nothing to do with the clashes in Jos," said Uba Bello, Kano state police commissioner.
Curfew
In some of the worst of the violence in Jos, churches, mosques, cars and houses were burned down, as the authorities extended a curfew to try to calm the situation.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered the military into the city at the weekend, and they acted to restore order.
They are still patrolling the streets and checkpoints, firing into the air to warn residents to stay indoors.
President Obasanjo has condemned the violence.
"I wonder what sort of Muslims and Christians start burning churches and mosques - places where God is worshipped?" he asked.
"True believers in God cannot start killing other human beings."
Ethnic side
The population of Jos is overwhelmingly Christian, but there is a sizeable Muslim community.
There is also an ethnic dimension to the conflict, as many of the fighters on the Christian side are members of the Berom tribe, a group native to Jos.
Fulanis and Hausas - two of Nigeria's largest ethnic groups - make up a large proportion of the Muslims.
Relations between Christians and Muslims in northern Nigeria have been tense since the introduction of the Sharia Islamic law in 12 states.
In February 2000, more than 2,000 people were killed in religious unrest in Kaduna, and some 450 more Nigerians died in reprisals in the south-east of the country.