Sallah: Soldiers, Muslim youths clash in Jos

policemen and men of the Joint Military Task Force on Tuesday clashed with some irate youths in Jos, the Plateau State capital, shortly after the eid prayer to commemorate this year’s Eid-el-Kabir festival.

The Nigerian Tribune learnt that trouble started when some of the youth who had just finished Eid-el-Kabir prayer at Dogon-Karfe and were heading home suddenly became reckless with their bikes and defiled instructions and cautions.

An eyewitness said one of them attempted to hit a soldier at one of the roadblocks in the area, adding that an attempt by the soldiers in the vicinity to arrest the boy attracted the attention of other youths returning from the prayer.

It was gathered that the youth surrounded the check point to ensure that the culprit was not taken away but the soldiers, however, refrained themselves from opening fire on them.

To nip the incident in the bud, some armed mobile policemen were despatched to the area to maintain peace but the youth became more violent on sighting them, hurling stones at the policemen.

In the process, the windscreen of one of the police patrol vans was broken, while some of the youth and a policeman sustained minor injuries.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, confirmed the incident, saying that there was no need to panic as the situation had been brought under control.

Aduba said that he also asked his men to release those arrested, adding that some of the Muslim leaders assured him that they would hand over the unruly ones to him for prosecution.