Lagos, Nigeria - A resurgence of the lingering ethno-religious violence in Nigeria's northern city of Jos Thursday left 12 people dead, bringing to 19 the number of people killed in the area in the past 72 hours, the local Punch newspaper reported Friday.

The paper quoted Mr. Abraham Yiljap, the Commissioner for Information and Communications of Plateau State, of which Jos is capital, as saying a 24-hour curfew had been imposed on the Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, where the latest violence occurred.

Yilhap also said 60 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, which also left two churches, an Islamic school and over 20 buildings burnt at Barkin Ladi, the council headquarters, when Christians and Muslims clashed

Those who died in the violence include a police officer, identified as Dalyop Pinda, and his wife, as well as the four children of a councillor, Mr.  Pam Choji.

Though the commissioner said the actual cause of the latest violence had not been ascertained, the private Leadership newspaper quoted a resident of the area as saying it followed a reprisal attack over the killing of three Christian youths by suspected Muslim Fulani herdsmen.

The indigenous Christian and settler Muslim population have clashed incessantly in the state over everything from political power to land ownership and grazing rights.

Pana 25/11/2011