Nigerian President Mohammad Bukhari said 55 people were killed this week in violence between Muslim youths and other Christians in the north of the country.
"President Mohamed Bukhari condemns the recent violence in Kasawan Magani in Kaduna State that killed 55 people," the Nigerian presidency said in a statement on Saturday after a brawl in a commercial market on Thursday.
"Repeated bloodshed, because of misunderstandings that can be solved peacefully, is worrying," he said, stressing that "no culture or religion can justify contempt for the sanctity of human life."
Confrontations erupted between Muslim porters of Hausa and Christian youths from Adara, following a dispute between the two sides in the Kaswan Magani commercial market, about 50 km from Kaduna, the state capital.
According to Ahmed Abdul Rahman, police chief of the state of Kaduna, 22 suspects were arrested following the incident, and the governor imposed a curfew overnight in the city from Friday evening until further notice.
