Jos, Nigeria (circled)Two pastors and 46 other Christians have been confirmed killed in the outbreak of violence in Jos, Plateau State in Nigeria, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

In the religious clash, triggered on Jan. 17 when Muslim youths attacked a Catholic church, 10 church buildings were burned and 27 Christians are still missing, CAN officials said at a press conference in Jos on Jan. 27.

Police estimate 320 lives were lost in the clash. Many thousands have been displaced. State Commissioner of Police Greg Anyating stated that Muslim youths were to blame for setting off the violence. Police said violence was triggered by an unprovoked attack by Muslim youths on worshippers at St. Michael’s Catholic Church. Burned buildings included Protestant churches.

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) accused the state General Officer Commanding (GOC), Major-Gen. Salleh Maina, and some soldiers of taking sides in the clash.

“Soldiers were seen in some parts of Jos watching Muslim youths shooting Christians and burning places without any efforts to stop them,” read a PFN press statement.

The violence comes during a leadership vacuum in Nigeria. Since Nov. 23 Muslim President Umaru Yar’Adua has been in Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.

The same area suffered on Nov. 28-29, 2008, when murderous rioting sparked by Muslim attacks on Christians and their property left six pastors dead, at least 500 other people killed and 40 churches destroyed, according to church leaders. More than 25,000 persons were displaced in the two days of violence.

What began as outrage over suspected vote fraud in local elections quickly hit the religious fault line as angry Muslims took aim at Christian sites rather than at political targets. Police and troops reportedly killed about 400 rampaging Muslims in an effort to quell the unrest, and Islamists shot, slashed or stabbed to death more than 100 Christians.

Sectarian violence in Jos, a volatile mid-point where the predominantly Muslim north meets the mainly Christian south, left more than 1,000 people dead in 2001. Another 700 people were killed in sectarian outbreaks of violence in 2004. –Compass Direct News