JOS, Nigeria (Reuters) – At least 80 people were killed in Christmas Eve bombings and clashes two days later between Muslim and Christian youths in central Nigeria, officials say.
The police said on Saturday 32 people were killed in the bomb attacks but with more than 100 wounded in hospital the death count was expected to rise.
"We have recovered 80 dead bodies so far in Jos," Daniel Gambo, an official at the Nigerian emergency management agency said late on Monday.
The chief of defense staff said two suspects were arrested in Jos, the capital of Plateau state, in possession of dynamite and dangerous weapons on Monday.
Armed police continued to patrol the streets in Jos and surrounding areas on Tuesday to deter further unrest.
A series of explosions on Friday led to religious violence which flares up sporadically in the central "Middle Belt" of Africa's most populous nation, where the largely Muslim north meets the mostly Christian south.
Hundreds of people died in religious and ethnic clashes at the start of the year but co-ordinated bomb attacks have not featured in previous violence and the governor of Plateau state has said the attacks were politically motivated.
President Goodluck Jonathan has pledged to hunt down those responsible for the bombings but the government has not said who might be responsible for the violence.
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