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On 24 December a series of bomb blasts rocked the city of Jos leaving over 60 dead and over 70 wounded.  At Gada Biyu there were no less than 6 explosions at short intervals from around 7pm  

The perpetrators targeted areas known to be busy with people doing last minute Christmas shopping.

Two further bombs were detonated near the Bauchi Ring Road in western Jos.  One body was identified as that of a Jos University staff member.   Bodies and body parts were strewn in various places and 74 people are known to have received treatment across various hospitals in Jos City.

At the same time, an attack was reported on Victory Baptist Church, Halamdari Gala in Maiduguri.  At least six people including the pastor were murdered.  

NO END TO THE VIOLENCE 

Violence has continued since then, with the military forces either powerless or worse still implicated in the attacks.   The following email was sent shortly after 8 January 2011 by a local pastor:

Please Sisters and Brothers,

I have tried to be silent on the recent violence that erupts again in Jos since Saturday the 8th January 2011 afternoon but could bear it no longer.

I was hoping to sometimes soon write you an email with encouraging happenings, but alas!  A crisis that started at the Congress of Progress Change (CPC) Plateau State Party congress took a violent tune resulting in killing and destruction of properties. The violence soon took up a religious dimension resulting into the lost of lives of five (5) people by media reports but over fifty people were either burnt or cut into pieces.  

As I went into Jos on Sunday, one would wish never to see such horrible scene in his life again as burnt human bodies that one could hardly identify were dumped in Birngham University Mortuary, I was unable to count. The violence spread to Bisichi and Mangu Halle areas.  The Joint Military and Police Task Force were able to restore nomalcy but just for some hours. Sunday afternoon witnessed yet another bloody day with Bukuru and some other areas suffering lots of burnings and killings.  We had to have a sleepless nights in Jos and environs as there were gun shots all through the night.   

As I write this email, I went out but people were running in all directions. Business places were shut and those driving are doing so amidst high tension. I have decided to do this as some of the reports sent to the international communities are always either religiously or politically motivated and guided to settle some points and sometimes to attract simpathy. The Sahara Reporters and others have not been honest in their reporting of what truly happened. The Plateau State Police Commissioner attest to what I said above as to the cause of the recent violence.

Sisters and Brothers, we in Jos the Plateau State Capital and environs in northern Nigeria need your prayers more than ever before.

(name supplied)