Roadblocks set up for killings

Youths dragged people from their cars and murdered them at illegal roadblocks in central Nigeria over the weekend, while rioters burned fuel stations and homes in the latest clashes between Christian and Muslim gangs.

Youths from the mostly Christian Berom ethnic group set up the roadblocks at Gada Biu, on the edge of the city of Jos, stopping vehicles and pulling out people they believed to be Muslims, witnesses said.

One witness said he counted 15 bodies, although security forces could not confirm this.

The latest burst of violence in Plateau state, where an estimated 200 people have been killed in ethnic and religious clashes over the past month, was triggered when Muslim youths attended a burial ceremony near a Christian village.