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finish.” He continued, “Fighting will continue because there is no justice.” But the Fulani will forgive,
he argued, if there is justice. “Where they will never forgive is where you kill and take, and there is no
compensation and no justice.” If there is justice, “It would be the end of the crisis.” 197
Renewed Violence in Jos and Southern Plateau State
On Christmas Eve, December 24, 2010, a series of bombs exploded in two predominantly Christian
neighborhoods in Jos, leaving at least 33 people dead. 198 The militant Islamist group Boko Haram
claimed responsibility for the bombings, stating that it carried out the attacks to “start avenging
the atrocities committed against Muslims in those areas.” 199 The bombings sparked more than a
month of sectarian bloodletting in and around Jos that claimed some 200 Muslim and Christian
lives. Many of the victims were targeted and killed, often in horrific circumstances, based simply
on their ethnic or religious identity. 200
Eight months later, on August 29, 2011, Muslims from the Izala sect gathered at their prayer
ground in Jos for the Eid-el Fitr prayers to commemorate the end of Ramadan. The prayer ground
is located in a predominately Christian neighborhood near the site of the Christmas Eve 2010
bombings. Witnesses said that while they were praying, Christians surrounded the prayer
ground and blocked the road leading out of the neighborhood. Soldiers who had been deployed
to provide security for the worshipers told them they should wait until the road was clear, but
while they waited the surrounding mob attacked. Muslim worshipers fled on foot along the road
through the Christian neighborhoods. Mobs along the road also attacked the fleeing worshipers,
as soldiers attempted to escort them out of the area, witnesses said. 201 Muslim leaders said at
least 10 Muslim worshipers died in the attack, and several hundred vehicles and motorcycles
were burned. 202
Videos widely circulated on mobile telephones in the aftermath of the attack appear to show
Christian youth, among charred cars and motorcycles, cutting up the corpse of a Muslim victim
and eating the flesh. The faces of the youth are clearly identifiable. The video clips also show the
decapitated head of one of the victims impaled on a stick, with a Muslim cap placed on his head
197 Human Rights Watch interview with a Fulani leader in Barkin Ladi, February 5, 2012.
198 See “Police dispute NEMA on death toll,” Daily Trust, December 29, 2010.
199 Imam Imam and Seriki Adinoyi, “Jos Bombings – Group Claims Responsibility,” ThisDay (Lagos), December 27, 2010.
200 See “Nigeria: New Wave of Violence Leaves 200 Dead,” Human Rights Watch news release, January 27, 2011,
http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/01/27/nigeria-new-wave-violence-leaves-200-dead.
201 Human Rights Watch interviews with two Muslim worshipers and a Christian youth leader, Jos, February and March, 2012.
202 See Andrew Agbese and Mahmud Lalo, “Jos Eid Crisis – Our Story – JIBWIS,” Daily Trust, September 5, 2011. Human Rights Watch
interview with A.A. Sangei, lawyer representing victims of the Eid attack, Jos, March 9, 2012.
71 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | DECEMBER 2013