Nigeria Muslims flee Yelwa; Locals bury 630 after Christian attack

By: Mohamed Ali

YELWA, Nigeria: Injured, hungry and grieving Nigerian Muslims abandoned their town Friday after attacks by Christian militia that have left according to a senior Red Cross official 500 Muslims dead. But survivors of the Yelwa massacre confirmed they had buried 630 corpses in several mass graves around the remote market town after saying the final death toll could reach 1,000.

Police have spoken only of “hundreds” killed in the attack.

“We buried a total of 630 people yesterday, 1,500 people were injured and 600 were taken for emergency treatment,” community leader Abdullahi D. Abdullahi said.

Abdullahi showed reporters a foul-smelling area of freshly turned earth in the town where he said some of the people had been buried. Nearby, a mosque had been gutted by fire and one of its walls had collapsed.

“We have been burying the dead for the past four days,” said Abdullahi. “Even today we moved several bodies from culverts and wells. We are overworked. We are hungry. The able-bodied men still around are very few. That's why we still have some corpses littering the streets.”

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