More bodies have been pulled from wells and sewage pits in a village near the Nigerian city of Jos. Human Rights Watch said it appeared to have been a targeted massacre.

Four days of clashes between Christian and Muslim mobs armed with guns, knives and machetes killed hundreds of people in Jos and surrounding communities this week. Vice President Goodluck Jonathan had to deploy the military to contain the violence.

Muhammad Tanko Shittu, a senior mosque official organising mass burials in Jos, told Reuters on Saturday he had just returned from Kuru Jantar where more than 200 bodies had been found.

"So many bodies were dumped into wells and were littered around, others were being evacuated by the federal authorities," he said. Both Shittu and Red Cross officials said they were still counting bodies and could not yet give an overall toll.

Some estimates have put the death toll at more than 400, although official figures have been much lower.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said groups of armed men attacked the mostly Muslim population of Kuru Jantar on January 19. They burned some alive and killed others as they tried to flee. It urged Jonathan to order an investigation of "credible reports of a massacre of at least 150 Muslim residents".

"The children were running helter-skelter. The men were trying to protect the women. People who ran into the bush were killed. Some were burned in the mosque and some went to the houses and were burned," a resident of Kuru Jantar said.

He said that his wife was in hospital with an 11-month-old girl who had been cut with an axe.

"I came back on Wednesday evening escorted by the military. I saw dead bodies everywhere. The corpses were there, but now you can just see the blood on the ground. None of the houses are standing," he said.

Thousands displaced
The unrest around the capital of Plateau state, which lies at the crossroads of Nigeria's Muslim north and predominantly Christian south, underscores the fragility of Africa's most populous nation as it approaches the campaign period for 2011 elections with uncertainty over who is in charge.

President Umaru Yar'Adua has been receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia for two months. He has not formally handed executive powers to Jonathan which has triggered court challenges over the legality of government decisions.

Jonathan on Thursday ordered the army to take over security in Jos to prevent further clashes. He  also pledged that those responsible for the violence would face justice.

A Nigerian court has ruled Jonathan can perform executive duties but said he could not be "acting president", leading some members of the opposition and analysts to question whether he can legally act as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

The authorities relaxed a 24-hour curfew in Jos on Thursday to allow thousands of residents to return to their homes. The strong presence of troops and police has helped restore calm.

The Red Cross has estimated 17,000 people were displaced and took shelter in colleges, hospitals and schools. A Red Cross official in neighbouring Bauchi state said on Saturday around 7,000 people were still sheltering in schools there and were being given food and medical supplies.

Source: Reuters

Photo: EPA