The city, which lies between the country's mostly Mohammedan north and the predominantly Christian south, has been a flash point for ethnic and sectarian tensions between the two faiths.
If the violence worsens or triggers reprisals, it may prove another major headache for President
Goodluck Jonathan... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
, whose security forces are already stretched by daily attacks from an Islamist sect in the northeast, which also claimed Friday's deadly kaboom on the UN offices in Abuja that killed 23.
"The Mohammedan faithful went for their Eid prayers and on completion of the prayers they were trapped by the youths in that area," Brigadier General Hassan Umaru, commander of the military Special Task Force keeping security in Jos, told Rooters by telephone.