ABUJA, Nigeria - Interreligious clashes killed 10 people in a northern Nigerian village after Christians proposed moving a local government office out of the palace of a Muslim chief, officials said yesterday.

Rabiu Bako, spokesman for the Kaduna state government, said the rampage started Friday in the village of Gwantu, about 70 miles south of the city of Kaduna, the state capital.

At least 19 people were arrested, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Tensions persisted throughout the weekend although the situation was reportedly calm yesterday.

Interreligious tensions in other parts of the state - which is mainly Muslim with a large Christian minority - have risen since Friday when the state began implementing Shariah, or Islamic fundamentalist law, in areas dominated by Muslims.

Kaduna state Gov. Mohammed Makarfi appointed a five-member committee on Monday to investigate the latest clashes, which began after the Christian-led Sanga Local Government Council tried to relocate its offices from the palace of the Muslim chief to another Christian-dominated area.

Kaduna government official Muktar Sirajo blamed the fighting on ``troublemakers'' trying to capitalize on the recent launch of Shariah.

Rioting in February 2000, when Shariah was first proposed, left more than 2,000 dead by some estimates, while hundreds of thousands more were forced to flee their homes.

Interreligious fighting has subsequently spread to several of the dozen other states where Shariah has also been imposed.

Nigeria periodically experiences outbreaks of fighting along ethnic and religious lines. Africa's most populous nation, with 120 million people from 250 ethnic groups, is roughly divided between a mainly Christian south and an overwhelmingly Muslim north.