Bloodbath at Xmas: Bodies litter Jos streets
- Details
- Category: Society
- Published on Monday, 27 December 2010 07:06
- Written by The Nation
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JOS was still burning Sunday. There was bloodbath in the city. Houses were on fire and youths launched a free-for-all. Bodies littered the streets. The government was scrambling to restore peace, following last Friday’s explosions in the Plateau State capital. The city was shut down. Streets were deserted. Businesses remained closed.
Agwa Rukuba, Tina, Dogon Dutse, Rikkos, Gadabiu, Abattoir and Dogon Karfe were strewn with bodies. Youths went on the rampage, frustrating Christmas Day church services. As early as 6am, they mounted road blocks on major highways.
They set fire to some houses, especially in Angwa Rukuba and Dogon Dutse, where most Jos indigenes live. Rikkos village also exploded in violence, which spread to Abattoir and Dogon-Karfe, where youths engaged one another in a fight. At Abattoir, some worship houses were torched.
Thirty-two people have been confirmed dead and 74 injured on the Christmas Eve explosions. Following the continuation of violence, Vice-President Namadi Sambo cancelled his visit to the city to inspect the scene of the violence.
Sources said Sambo was advised to suspend the visit, until the security agencies contain the violence. Three suspects allegedly involved in the bombings were Sunday arrested by the Joint Task Force, which launched a manhunt for the masterminds of the explosions.
The Commander of the JTF, Brigadier-General Hassan Umar, told our correspondent on the telephone that the suspects were handed over to the Police because "it is the duty of the police to investigate the suspects".
"I’m at the forefront with my men to restore normalcy. While we arrested two people in the first batch, we picked up another suspect in the second batch," Gen. Umar said.
Security agencies were meeting last night on how to unravel the masterminds of the explosions. A top source said: "We are analysing all clues made available to us. But we are certainly determined to get to the roots of these explosions.
"The methods adopted were sophisticated and these underscored the fact that we must unmask the masterminds. We have to get the perpetrators and their sponsors.
"They also changed their tactics by hiding under the cover of the night to perpetrate the dastardly acts. "We may involve the locals in trailing some of the suspects."
Bomb experts from Abuja have gone to Jos to team up with their colleagues for further investigation. "All the security agencies are involved; it is not an investigation we can leave to the police.
"Our immediate challenges are to check the threat of reprisals from all aggrieved groups; restore normalcy; and put in place preventive measures to avoid a repeat of the violence."
