JOS: Clashes erupted between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria's central city of Jos on Sunday, leaving at least 12 people dead. The city was placed under a night-time curfew between 6pm and 6am to ease tensions that began early on Sunday after an argument arose on the rebuilding of homes destroyed in the November 2008 clashes, residents said. A Reuters correspondent counted 12 bodies at Jos University Teaching Hospital and at the city's main mosque. "I cannot give casualty figures now until my men complete their full investigation," he said.
Thirty-five people were arrested," said Gregory Anyating, police commissioner for Plateau state -- of which Jos is the capital.
Several houses and vehicles were also burnt in the fighting between Muslims and Christians in the city's Nassarawa Gwom area, said journalist and resident Musa Habibu, AFP reported.
Plateau state police spokesman Mohammed Lerema said the situation had been brought under control and several people had been detained, some of them found with guns and ammunition.
Jos has been a hotbed of religious violence in central Nigeria. In November 2008 hundreds of people were killed in two days of violence triggered by a rumour that the majority-Muslim All Nigeria People's Party had lost a local election to the mainly Christian Peoples Democratic Party. Soldiers and policemen were brought in to restore order.
State officials put the death toll at about 200 but other sources gave the death toll at twice that figure.
Religious violence has also erupted in nearby northern Nigeria. Last month at least 70 people were killed in violent clashes between security forces and members of a radical sect in the country's northern Bauchi State.