Sunday, November 30, 2008

WHILE WE MOURN the horrific carnage in Mumbai, it's easy not to notice things like this, but they happen:
Mobs have burned homes, churches and mosques, and the death toll rose to more than 300 in a second day of sectarian violence in Africa's most populous nation.

Sheikh Khalid Abubakar, the imam at the Jos, Nigeria's main mosque, said more than 300 bodies were brought there Saturday, and 183 more could be seen near the building waiting to be interred.

Those killed in the Christian community would not likely be taken to the city mosque, raising the possibility that the total death toll could be much higher. The city morgue wasn't immediately accessible Saturday.

Police spokesman Bala Kassim said there were "many dead," but couldn't cite a firm number.

Fighting began Friday between supporters of the region's two main political parties following the first local election in the town of Jos in more than a decade. The violence expanded along ethnic and religious lines, with Hausa Muslims and members of Christian ethnic groups doing battle.