Nigerian police have dug out eight more bodies near the central city of Jos, which has been a scene of clashes between Christians and Muslims.
Over the past three days sniffer dogs have found 15 bodies buried in shallow graves in Rahoss village, a senior police officer said Thursday, AFP reported.
“We discovered five more bodies in shallow graves yesterday (Wednesday) and three others today (Thursday),” said the officer who was speaking on condition of anonymity. Seven bodies were exhumed on Tuesday.
Dozens of Christians in Rahoss blocked the highway linking Jos to Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, on Tuesday and attacked Muslim travelers.
Clashes between Christians and Muslims in the region have left hundreds of people killed since the start of the year.
On Thursday, governors from 19 of Nigeria’s 36 states gathered in Jos to discuss ways of stemming violence in the country’s so-called “middle belt.”
In the meeting, Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang, said that the violence in the region was not a sectarian one.
“Religion is being wielded as a veritable tool for achieving other objectives that are criminal or partisan in nature,” Jang told the meeting.
“Even in cases … of a petty quarrel or a localized dispute between individual or groups, it is accorded religious interpretation and blown out of proportion,” he said.