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communities. 102 When the Muslim leaders saw this they gathered the Muslim residents together
near the police post and central mosque. 103
Some of the Christians in Kuru Karama tried to intervene. A Christian pastor went over to the
armed mob that had gathered and pleaded with them to leave, but they would not listen to him
and instead hit the pastor, witnesses recalled. 104 The pastor told Human Rights Watch that he tried
to “calm the situation,” but “I was about to be beaten or shot,” he said. “After that I ran.” 105 Many
of the Muslim residents also ran, looking for places to hide or ways to defend themselves. The
armed mob then began their attack.
Muslim witnesses said that the Muslim residents were outnumbered and had little to defend
themselves with. As one leader recalled:
[We] went back to defend ourselves, but we couldn’t make it because we didn’t
have anything to protect ourselves with, and we couldn’t run because they had
surrounded us. So we had to just try to defend ourselves before they killed us….
They were shooting us, hitting us with knives, burning us. They followed us, so we
went to another place, [but] they killed us [there]. 106
Survivors said that from that morning until nightfall, the mob hunted down and murdered Muslim
residents, including hacking to death and burning alive men, women, and children. The mob set fire
to the Muslim homes, shops, and the three main mosques. According to Muslim witnesses, some of
the Christian Berom residents of Kuru Karama also joined in the attack. Christian women—from Kuru
Karama and other communities—allegedly carried containers of petrol that were used to set fire to
houses and Muslim victims caught by the mob. Witnesses described to Human Rights Watch at least
two instances where they saw women participating in the killing, including beating to death a small
boy and setting fire to an old man after he had been beaten by the mob. 107
102 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with two Hausa-Fulani residents from Kuru Karama, January 22, 2010, and interviews with
Muslim residents from Kuru Karama, January and February 2012.
103 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with a Muslim leader from Kuru Karama, January 22, 2010, and interviews with Hausa-
Fulani leaders from Kuru Karama, January 2012.
104 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with a Muslim leader from Kuru Karama, January 22, 2010, and interviews with Muslim
residents from Kuru Karama, January and February 2012.
105 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with a Christian pastor from Kuru Karama, Plateau State, May 17, 2013.
106 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Muslim leader, Kuru Karama, January 22, 2010.
107 Human Rights Watch interviews with two Muslim residents from Kuru Karama, January 28 and 29, 2012.
53 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | DECEMBER 2013