Kaduna attacks:Death toll rises to 63

The death toll from the bombings on three churches in Zaria and Kaduna and the reprisal attacks that followed on Sunday has risen to 63, checks by Daily Trust revealed yesterday.Our reporters who visited St. Gerard and Barau Dikko hospitals in Kaduna metropolis and the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching (ABUTH), Shika, Zaria gathered that more corpses were brought to the hospitals while some injured persons being treated died bet-ween Sunday and Monday afternoon.Spokesman of the St. Gerard Hospital, Mr Sunday John Ali, said 39 corpses were brought to the hospital and 72 persons with various degrees of injuries are receiving treatment.'Government has taken the 39 corpses in our mortuary today (Monday). They were all brought in as a result of the riot. We are managing another 72 injured persons here,' he said.At the Barau Dikko Specialist Hospital, a matron told newsman that 12 lifeless bodies were brought in while only two injured persons were receiving treatment there as of yesterday.The Chief Medical Director of the ABUTH, Dr Lawal Khalid, told our correspondent that the number of dead bodies in the hospital raised to 12 as two more victims had died while receiving treatment. Dr Khalid said 30 victims are still in the hospital receiving treatment.Red Cross officials told reporters yesterday in Kaduna that 140 victims of the attacks were taken to various hospitals for treatment.Reuters yesterday put the dead toll from Sunday's violence at 52, but reported that some of the dead bodies might have been dumped in wells.'Some people were killed and dumped down wells. We've had violence before, but this is the worst I've seen,' a witness had told the new agency.Meanwhile the 24-hour curfew imposed by the Kaduna state government on Sunday was relaxed yesterday. In a statement, the government allowed people to go out yesterday from 2.pm to 6.pm and subsequently, from 6pm to 6am beginning from today.The curfew had helped to stop Sunday's violence from escalating. But few hours after the curfew was relaxed, Christian and Muslim youths reportedly clashed in Barnawa area of Kaduna. The situation was, however, contained by security operatives before it escalated. No casualties were reported.
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