Islamic authorities in the central Nigerian city of Jos yesterday demanded police pay compensation for four Muslims killed in a raid on suspected extremists earlier this week.
Police, army and air force officers stormed a compound housing hundreds of Muslims in the early hours of Thursday searching for members of the Maitatsine sect, police sources said. However, the residents took the officers for armed robbers and put up strong resistance with machetes and other weapons. Four people were killed in the confrontation and eight hurt, the sources said.
"The security agencies must compensate the families of those killed or maimed," said a statement issued by Muslim elders yesterday. The security forces detained at least 120 people in the raid, although 80 were later freed on bail, authorities said.
The raid has increased tension between Muslims and Christians in Jos, where 1000 were killed in religious riots two years ago. The Maitatsine sect was blamed for orchestrating bloody religious feuds in northern Nigeria in the 1980s. Jos itself was the scene of religious riots in 2001 that killed about 1000.
Nigeria's 130 million population is split roughly equally between Muslims and Christians. At least 10 000 people have been killed in religious and ethnic fighting in the country since the end of military rule in 1999.