More than 500 people died in five days of street fighting between Muslims and Christians in central Nigeria this week, humanitarian and religious sources told AFP Thursday, confirming newspaper reports.
"That toll is not an exaggeration. That is how many we think it is," said an official with a relief organisation who asked not to be named.
"Community leaders are putting together lists of people who have been lost but it will take time. We think it is certainly around or over 500," said a leader of a religious community.
A Nigerian newspaper, the state-run Daily Times, reported Wednesday that more than 500 victims of the violence in Jos had been given a mass burial after dark late Monday.
The bodies were taken to the Zaria Road cemetery in three trucks by heavily armed soldiers and buried under supervision of government officials.
The area was cordoned off to prevent news of the toll emerging and sparking reprisals, the paper said.
Officials Wednesday declined to comment to AFP on the toll -- the highest yet for the violence.
The Nigerian Red Cross confirmed Wednesday that a "very large" mass burial had taken place on Monday but declined to provide a toll -- LAGOS (AFP)
