Monday October 15, 2001

KANO, Nigeria - Fires smoldered in burned cars and ruined buildings in the northern city of Kano yesterday, a day after Muslim-Christian clashes left at least 13 people dead and religious tensions high.

The fighting Saturday was apparently ignited by clashes between police and an armed mob Friday following a protest by Muslims against the U.S.-led airstrikes on Afghanistan.

Hundreds of soldiers patrolled Kano, located 500 miles north of the commercial capital Lagos, restoring an uneasy calm yesterday. Burning tires and garbage littered a four-lane road in Kano and firefighters battled to put out fires in several buildings.

Witnesses said three churches and a mosque were partially burned Saturday, but government officials said only one church and one mosque were damaged.

Police said they had confirmed 13 deaths in Saturday's violence, including five rioters shot by police. There were unconfirmed reports of hundreds dead but by Sunday no bodies were visible on the streets. Hospitals refused to admit journalists and gave no casualty figures.

Kano's state government, anxious to play down the violence, dismissed the reports.

"To say hundreds is an exaggeration," said government spokesman Ibrahim Gwagwarwa.

Some Muslims vowed more protests against the U.S.-led airstrikes on Afghanistan.

"As long as George Bush continues to drop bombs on Afghanistan, then we Muslims in Nigeria will protest," said Bilyaminu Muhammad, a 38-year-old who hurriedly dismantled his roadside barbecue chicken stand Friday in anticipation of violence.

Yet most residents expressed dismay at the fighting, saying they feared relations between Christian and Muslims in the largest city in northern Nigeria had been seriously damaged.

"I just pray for the fighting to stop," said Tony Sojay, an employee at St. George's Anglican Church who saw a mob stab a man to death outside his church.

Government officials and some residents blamed the fighting on thugs, not religious tensions. They said people began looting stores and homes immediately after Friday's anti-U.S. protests. Police made more than 100 arrests.

"It is unemployed youths, both Muslim and Christian, who are causing all the trouble," said Abdul Kadir, a university student.

But witnesses told of groups of Christian and Muslim rioters yelling religious slogans as they attacked and chased bystanders believed to be of another faith. Some Muslim rioters carried posters of Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Yesterday , bin Laden posters could still be seen pinned up on walls and buildings around the city. Some taxis also bore stickers of bin Laden's face.

Government officials often deny the religious basis of fighting to avoid fueling further violence in Nigeria, which is divided between a largely Muslim north and Christian south.

The violence is just the latest in a cycle of bloodletting since a dozen northern states, including Kano, began introducing Islamic law, or Shariah, last year. Islamic courts in these states have ordered the hands of thieves amputated and several women and girls have been publicly flogged for alleged sexual indiscretions.

In September, at least 165 people were killed in inter-religious fighting in the city of Jos.

An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was worried that if nonnative traders - many of whom are Christian - flee Kano, they will spread word of the violence, potentially igniting religious conflicts elsewhere in Nigeria.

Although Kano, with several million inhabitants, is overwhelmingly Muslim and ethnic Hausa, it also attracts a large number of traders from southern Nigeria who come to deal in consumer, agriculture and industrial goods.