Yelwa massacre

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The Yelwa massacre took place on May 2, 2004, in Yelwa, Nigeria. According to Red Cross reports more than 630 nomad Muslims were killed by Christians.

Prior to this incident, Muslims attacked Christians in Yelwa. According to testimonies gathered by Human Rights Watch in Yelwa, at least 78 Christians, and possibly many more, were killed in Yelwa on February 24. Several churches were destroyed, including the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) Bishara no.1 church in the new market area, Angwan Baraya, a church of the United Church of Christ in Nigeria (UCCN, or HEKAN by its Hausa acronym) on the road leading to Langtang South, and three churches of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), including one in Nshar, a village just outside Yelwa. One of the most calculated and bloody incidents on February 24 was an attack on the compound of a church known as COCIN no.1, situated on the road leading to Langtang South.24 At least 48 Christians were killed inside the church compound, and around 30 others outside the compound.

Between the February 24, 2004 Islamic attacks and the revenge attack by Christians on May 2, 2004, Muslims committed at least 22 separate attacks against the Christian population of the area, including the murder of a local Christian man that triggered the Yelwa incident.

More than 10 000 people have died in fighting since Olusegun Obasanjo was elected as the president of Nigeria in 1999.

The origin of the conflict between the Christian Tarok and the Muslim Fulani is rooted in their competing claims over the fertile farmlands of Plateau state in central Nigeria.

But it has been stoked by religious hatred and the sense among the Christian population that Muslims are outsiders in Plateau.

Survivors of the Yelwa massacre said they had buried 630 corpses in several mass graves around the remote market town after Sunday's attack. It was not possible to confirm the figure independently, but a senior police officer spoke of "hundreds" dead.

Presidential spokeswoman Remi Oyo said 630 dead was an exaggeration, but offered no further information.