Baroness Cox: Religious leaders must unite to beat Nigeria’s extremists
Hat-tip: Dermot O'Callaghan
Sir, The article by Ruth Gledhill and Jonathan Clayton (“500 butchered in Nigeria killing fields”, Mar 9) portrays vividly the horror suffered by innocent civilians in the most recent outbreak of violence in what is becoming a deeply disturbing sequence of massacres… However, your leading article reflects an inaccurate misrepresentation of the history of violence in referring to “a Christian-on-Muslim attack in January” …
In the violent attacks, not only in Plateau state, but also in neighbouring Bauchi and other northern states, a consistent pattern has emerged: they are initiated by well-armed Muslim extremists, chanting militant slogans, attacking and killing Christian and other non-Muslim citizens and destroying homes and places of worship.
In the early stages of the attack, the Muslim militants take corpses to mosques, where they are photographed and released to the media, creating the impression that these are Muslim victims. The security forces have reportedly been too slow to intervene to stop the massacres. Subsequent retaliation has led to the deaths of Muslims, some of whom also died when security forces eventually intervened. Read here
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