Lagos, Nigeria — The death toll in weekend violence in Nigeria over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad has risen to 24, the Red Cross said Monday, with 230 people wounded.
Twenty-one people died in Maiduguri, in the north, and three in Katsina, said the Red Cross officer in charge of disaster management, Adronicus Adeyemo.
Protesters in Maiduguri turned on the Christian minority, burning churches and shops, and troops and police officers were deployed to restore order.
Most of the victims in Maiduguri are believed to be Christians because they were attacked in churches, the Red Cross official said. A Roman Catholic priest was among those killed. Authorities in the region have imposed a curfew.
Nigeria's 130 million people are divided roughly equally between Muslims and Christians of a variety of sects and denominations. Northern Nigeria is overwhelmingly Muslim, but major cities have significant Christian minorities.