Roto-Reuters takes six paragraphs to get to the point: Moslems, who seem to murder first and never ask questions, offended by the actions of secular white European newspaper editors, run out and attack their black Christian countrymen. It makes perfect sense to them, and I'm beginning to understand their twisted logic of hate and ignorance.
This is not a war between two civilizations. It is a war between a civilization committing suicide at an ever-increasing pace (That would be us, kiddies.) and a death-loving cult (That would be the wahhabi or salafi.) claiming to be the heirs of a civilization that died over five hundred years ago.
Death toll in northern Nigeria riots rises to 28
At least 28 people died in weekend rioting in two Muslim states in northern Nigeria over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad and a planned constitutional amendment, the Red Cross said on Monday.
Initial reports said 15 people died in sectarian riots in Maiduguri, capital of the northeastern state of Borno, and one was killed in political violence in the remote northwestern state of Katsina on Saturday.
"The report we have shows that 21 people were killed in Maiduguri and seven died in Katsina," Red Cross national disaster management officer Andronicus Adeyemo told Reuters.
He said the death toll from the riots in Maiduguri, where troops are on patrol to prevent further violence, could rise further as some of the 207 people injured were in critical condition.
The violence in Maiduguri was the most deadly since the cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper last year and later reprinted by other papers, sparking anger across the Muslim world.
Muslims believe depicting the Prophet is blasphemous, while newspapers, mainly in Europe, cited free speech as their reason for reprinting the cartoons.
About a dozen churches, 200 shops, 50 houses and 100 vehicles were razed or vandalised by protesters in Maiduguri who ran wild after police fired teargas to disperse them. Police said they arrested 115 rioters.
Borno, on the edge of Lake Chad, and Katsina are among 12 northern states that introduced Sharia law in 2000. The once peaceful state of Borno, which has a sizeable Christian population, has since seen a surge in Islamic radicalism.
Nigeria's 140 million people are almost equally divided between Christians, mainly in the south, and Muslims, largely in the north.
About 14,000 people have died in religious, political and communal violence in Africa's most populous nation since 1999 when it returned to democracy after 15 years of military rule.
The rioting in Katsina state was initially thought to be over the cartoons of the Prophet. But opposition politicians said it was a protest against a planned constitutional amendment many fear would enable President Olusegun Obasanjo to seek a third term in 2007.
Public hearings on the constitutional review by the National Assembly are due to start on Wednesday in Katsina and five other regional centres.
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