Sokoto, Nigeria – Police set up roadblocks and patrolled major streets in the northern Nigerian town of Sokoto on Monday after at least four people died in two days of clashes between rival Muslim groups, officials said.

Police in the remote north-west town said they arrested 50 people during the violence between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, which erupted on Friday and continued on Saturday.

Police said four people died during the clashes but some residents put the death toll at 20. Residents also said a primary school run by Shi’as and several houses were destroyed in the violence.

Sokoto is home to the spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims, who account for around half of the oil exporting nation’s population of 130 million. The majority are Sunnis.

“We arrested these people at various points in the town while they were setting tyres on fire, molesting people and destroying public utilities,” Sokoto state police commissioner Abdulmajib Bello told reporters.

Witnesses said violence erupted at the town’s main mosque after Sunni worshippers prevented a radical Shi’a leader from delivering a sermon during the afternoon prayers on Friday.

It was the third violent confrontation between the two groups in the town since March, when at least three people were killed.

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>