Kano - More than 100 people died during weekend riots in the northern Nigerian city of Kano which were sparked by a Muslim rally against US-led reprisal attacks on Afghanistan, the Red Cross said yesterday. Police on Monday put the death toll at 18 while the Kano State government said that only 13 people died in the city.
President Olusegun Obasanjo was scheduled to visit Kano late yesterday to assess the situation, his office said.
Following the riots, a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed on Kano, a hotbed of religious unrest in the past two decades, and security agents were ordered to shoot rioters on sight. More than 200 people were arrested in connection with the riots, which broke out Saturday and Sunday following Friday's Muslim rally.
A total of 18,000 Kano residents were displaced while more than 300 were injured in the riots, according to the Red Cross.