Death toll reaches 100 in Nigerian clashes

LAGOS, Nigeria - Soldiers and police patrolled parts of Nigeria's commercial capital Wednesday after leaders of two major tribes agreed to work together to end fighting that has killed about 100 people.

Gunfire could be heard in the city overnight, but clashes between Hausas and Yorubas seemed to be diminishing Wednesday.

The Hausas are a predominantly Muslim people from northern Nigeria, while the Yorubas are mostly Christians from the southern part of this West African nation, the continent's most populous.

Ethnic and religious divisions often explode into violence in Nigeria. Thousands of people have been killed in ethnic fighting over the past year.

The latest clashes began when relatives of a Hausa guard killed Sunday night in Lagos blamed his death on a militant Yoruba nationalist group, the Odudua Peoples Congress. Congress members said they were pursuing suspected criminals.

Police Commissioner Mike Okiro confirmed 24 killings, but other estimates of the death toll were much higher. Nigerian Red Cross Society workers said Wednesday they had collected about 100 bodies.

Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu summoned leaders of the Hausa and Yoruba communities to peace talks Tuesday, while insisting the clashes were not ethnically based.

The leaders agreed ''to do everything to halt all aggression against one another and to ensure peaceful coexistence among the various people,'' a statement issued after the meeting said.

Many residents fled their homes amid the fighting, seeking refuge at police stations and military bases.

A few schools opened Wednesday, but most remained closed. Businesses were also shut, and the closure of a gasoline created citywide fuel shortages.

The Odudua Peoples Congress movement comprises human rights activists, Yoruba tribal leaders and radical youths who advocate a separate state in southwestern Nigeria for Yorubas.

Congress members have repeatedly clashed with Hausas and other ethnic groups in Lagos and other southwestern cities.