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Thursday 18 March 2010

Hiding the truth, BBC style

The BBC report that:
'At least 10 people have been killed in an attack on a mainly Christian village near the violence-hit Nigerian city of Jos, officials say.

Eyewitnesses said houses were burnt and villagers were cut down with machetes. State radio reported that the raiders were disguised as soldiers.

State government spokesman Dan Manjang said the attack happened in Riyom area.

Hundreds of people have died in communal violence between Muslim and Christian groups near Jos this year.

Although the clashes take place between Muslims and Christians, observers say the underlying causes are economic and political.'

So that's no indication of who attacked the 'mainly Christian village', no differential drawn between the numbers of Muslims and Christians killed and 'observers' quoted as saying that the causes are ' economic and political' and so not religious.

Contrast that with Yahoo News report (my emphasis):
'Attackers killed 12 people Wednesday morning in a small Christian village in central Nigeria, officials said, cutting out most of the victims' tongues in the latest violence in a region where religious fighting already has killed hundreds this year.

The attack almost mirrored the tactics used by those who carried out similar massacres in Christian villages last week when more than 200 people were slaughtered.

Under the cover of darkness and a driving rain, raiders with machetes entered the village of Byie early Wednesday, setting fire to homes and firing gunshots into the air to drive frightened villagers into the night, witness Linus Vwi said.

"It was raining. They took that advantage," Vwi said.

Vwi said he and about 20 neighbors rushed into the surrounding wilderness, cowering in bushes as they listened to screams.

He said the attackers spoke Fulani, a language used mostly by Muslim cattle herders in the region. Officials and witnesses blamed Fulani herders for the killings last week.

...

The latest killings add to the tally of thousands who already have perished in Africa's most populous country in the last decade over religious and political frictions. Rioting in September 2001 killed more than 1,000 people. Muslim-Christian battles killed up to 700 people in 2004. More than 300 residents died during a similar uprising in 2008.'

Two questions for the BBC:
1) Why so shy of explaining that is most likely Muslims to blame for these murders and why no mention of the mutilations?
2) Over 2,00 people have died in such battles in Nigeria in the last 10 years and yet this story will never feature as a headline news story, whilst the deaths of a far smaller number in 'Palestine' will always be headline news, why?

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