Nigeria Sectarian Clash Toll Rises to 13

The death toll from a clash between Christians and Muslims in deeply divided central Nigeria has risen to at least 13, a hospital official said on Tuesday.

"Thirteen corpses have been transferred (from another hospital closer to the violence)," Ishaya Pam, chief medical director at Jos University Teaching Hospital, said after Monday's clash.

Witnesses told AFP that a group of Muslims had gone to a prayer ground in Jos, the capital of Plateau state, to mark the end of Ramadan when they were surrounded by residents of the Christian-dominated neighborhood.

The residents would not allow them to leave and violence resulted, with motorcycles and cars burnt. An Agence France Presse journalist saw two shops burnt.

Gunshots could be heard, believed to be soldiers firing into the air in a bid to clear the crowds.

A witness said Christians involved in the clashes spoke of preventing Muslims from marking their holiday in revenge for a string of bombs that exploded in Jos on Christmas Eve last year.

Soldiers evacuated Muslims who had gone to pray from the area.

Jos and the surrounding area has been hit by waves of violence between Christian and Muslim ethnic groups that have left hundreds dead in recent years.

The region lies in the so-called Middle Belt between the mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south of Africa's most populous nation.