Thousands of Muslims flee Nigeria town

[gottaB]

LAFIA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Thousands of Nigerian Muslims have braved hostile Christian roadblocks to flee the town of Yelwa after an attack by Christian militia killed hundreds earlier in the week.

Many wounded and exhausted, the refugees sought police escorts to take them to neighbouring Bauchi and Nassarawa states as Christians manning road blocks in surrounding villages tried to kill them as they left.

"On our way to the hospital they blocked the road and we had to turn back and get armed escorts," said Ozero Yunusa, a blacksmith shot in the leg in Sunday's attack.

"Even then they still attacked our vehicles and one of my brothers was shot in the process," he said from his hospital bed in Nassarawa state capital Lafia.

Thousands of Muslims flee Nigeria town....

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IBB Decries Plateau Violence, Wuyep Assures Lasting Peace

....Saying he wholly agreed with the call made by religious organisations that the brains behind these crimes be unmasked so that they could be punished according to the law, he (former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida) advised: "The Government of Plateau State must create the right atmosphere of peace and dialogue so as to avert future loss of lives and properties, and displacement of families similar to what happened recently in Yalwan Shendam," in the state.

Babangida, in a statement by Ibrahim Ismail, a Special Assistant, implored the belligerent factions to encourage forgiveness and settlement, by allowing for a ceasefire.

"The spate of killings and internecine crisis rocking parts of Plateau State, the tourist centre point of the Middle Belt, is a baffling and saddening development for nation-building and a threat to the historical, cultural, political and religious threads that weave us together as a people.

"Hindsight and commonsense dictate that 'might is not always right. And that human life is an invaluable asset that must be protected at all costs since the concomitant trauma and scar of war are better imagined than experienced," said the former President.

IBB Decries Plateau Violence, Wuyep Assures Lasting Peace....

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From Yesterday: Eyewitness: Nigeria's "town of death"

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Widows grieve in Yelwa town in central Nigeria, May 6, 2004REUTERS/George Esiri