Twenty die as machete-wielding rioters pour through Nigerian city

BODIES littered the streets of the southern Nigerian city of Onitsha yesterday as the death toll from days of Christian-Muslim violence across Nigeria rose to at least 96.

Witnesses saw at least 20 dead after gangs of rioters armed with machetes and shotguns poured through the mainly Christian city.

Residents said soldiers had opened fire on a mob of ethnic Igbo Christians that tried to enter the military barracks after reports ethnic Hausa Muslims sheltering in the barracks had attacked a nearby primary school, killing children.