Dozens die in Nigeria clashes
At least 26 people killed in violence between Christians and Muslims in northern city.
‘Calm restored’
Police said on Monday that the situation was under control and an evening curfew was in place.
“Security personnel have succeeded in quelling the unrest and restoring calm in the affected area of the city,” Mohammed Lerema, Plateau State police spokesman, told AFP.
“We have cordoned the Nassarawa Gwom district as a strategy to prevent the violence from spilling over to other parts of the city,” he said.
Jos, capital of Plateau state and home to 500,000 people, along with other central and northern areas in Nigeria have been plagued by religious violence in recent years.
In November 2008, hundreds of people were killed in Jos in two days of fighting triggered by a rumour that the mainly Muslim All Nigerian Peoples Party had lost a local election to the Christian dominated Peoples Democratic Party.
State officials put the death toll at about 200 but other sources gave a toll twice that figure.
Last month, at least 40 people were killed in clashes between security forces and members of an Islamist sect in the northern Bauchi State.
Nigeria has roughly the same number of Christians and Muslims, although traditional animist beliefs underpin many people’s faiths.