500 dead in Nigeria religious attacks

THE Vatican led a wave of revulsion yesterday at the slaughter of hundreds of Christians in Nigeria, as survivors told of how the killers hacked victims to death after snaring them in animal traps.

Officials said more than 500 people were killed in the three-hour orgy of violence on Sunday in three Christian villages close to the city of Jos, blamed on members of a mainly Muslim clan known as the Fulani.

As troops were deployed to the villages to prevent any new violence, police detained nearly 100 suspects amid outrage at how machete-wielding gangs were able to go on the rampage at a time when a curfew was meant to be in force.