Twenty-eight more bodies were on Sunday found in a central Nigerian village following Muslim-Christian clashes that have left hundreds dead, the Kuru Karama village head told AFP.
“We found 28 more bodies today in a pit in a bush on the western outskirt of the village. They were badly decomposed but they have been buried,” Umar Baza said on telephone.
This brings to 178 the total number of people dug out of wells and pits after the clashes in Kuru Karama, an old mining village about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Jos, the capital of Plateau State.
Global rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Baza said separately on Saturday that 150 victims of the clashes had been recovered from pits and wells in the old mining village.
The latest figure brings the total unofficial number of casualties from the four days of fighting in and around Jos to 492, according statistics supplied by medical and aid workers, religious and community leaders.
HRW spokesman Eric Guttschuss, quoting figures from Muslim officials, told AFP on Saturday from Washington that 364 of those killed were Muslims.
Plateau State police spokesman Mohammed Lerama on Sunday urged residents to provide the police with any information that would lead to “the arrest of fleeing murderers”.
He did not give details