Houses set ablaze, many injured as Muslim, Christians clash in Kaduna

Timely intervention of security forces Monday afternoon averted escalation of crisis between some Muslims and Christian youths in Kasuwan Magani in Kajuru local government of Kaduna state.

Several houses were however reportedly set ablaze and unspecified number of people were also said to have sustained injuries.There were conflicting reports on what triggered the crisis butone account said some Christian youths in the town went about beating girls for allegedly dating Muslim boys while another account claimed that some youths in the area went beavers when report filtered into town that there was an attempt to forcefully convert some Christian girls who were allegedly taken to the residence of the local chief.

It was however gathered that there had been simmering crisis in the area between adherents of the two faith before it tipped Monday morning.The community which is about 31 kilometers away from Kaduna city is located along the highway connecting Plateau, Nasarawa and Benue States as well as the southern part of Kaduna state.

Commuters plying that route were stranded for several hours following the incident.Residents alleged that securitypersonnel could not arrived until around 2pm when a combined team of soldiers andpolice were deployed to tackle the situation.

Spokesman of the Kaduna state police command, Aliyu Mukhtar said that the situation had been brought under control.Aliyu said the Assistant commissioner of police in charge of operations had relocated to the area.