Authorities in a Nigerian state rocked by sectarian clashes that left hundreds dead at the weekend announced the arrest on Tuesday of 16 “mercenaries” from neighbouring Niger.
Nuhu Gagara, commissioner of information in the central Plateau state, accused those arrested of being on a cross-border combat mission and that weapons had been found in their possession.
But the accusation was promptly rejected by Niger, with the country’s ambassador to Abuja saying those arrested were merely water vendors.
“Sixteen suspected mercenaries were brought in from Niger Republic to take part in the violence,” Gagara told AFP.
“They have been arrested and are being interrogated,” he added.
He said some weapons had also been recovered from the suspects.
But the Nigerien Ambassador to Nigeria Isa Ibrahim said that those arrested had been living in Jos “for several years as water vendors.”
He also claimed that around 50 Niger nationals had been killed in the violence and called against any statement that “can fuel a dying fire”.
Fighting broke out on Friday and continued until Saturday before police and soldiers were able to bring it under control.
The two-day violence was triggered by a rumour that the majority-Muslim All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) had lost a local election to the mainly Christian Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The state government has said about 200 people died in the clashes, though other sources have given a toll twice the official figure.
About 2,000 angry youths stormed central mosque in Jos on Monday calling for the resignation of the state governor Jonah Jang.
Security has also been beefed up in three major cities in the north — for fear that violence could spread. Residents of Kaduna and Katsina reported increased police patrols on Monday morning.
Muslims and Christians for the most part cohabit peacefully in Nigeria.
But Jos, in the “middle belt” between the predominantly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south, already witnessed violent clashes between the two religious groups in 2001 when hundreds of people were also killed.
Another town in the same state, Yelwa, was hit by similar violence in 2004.
Hundreds of people also died in religious-based clashes in Kaduna state when it tried to impose Sharia law in 2000.