Ten die in Nigeria Miss World rioting

Updated: 21:22, Thursday, 21 November 2002

At least ten people have been killed and hundreds injured in riots in central Nigeria sparked by a controversy over the Miss World beauty pageant.

Miss World pageant  Due to be held in capital Abuja next month Miss World pageant Due to be held in capital Abuja next month
Heavy rioting   Sparked by careless newspaper article Heavy rioting Sparked by careless newspaper article

At least ten people have been killed and hundreds injured in riots in central Nigeria sparked by a controversy over the Miss World beauty pageant.

A curfew has been imposed in the city of Kaduna, about 400 miles northwest of Lagos.

Soldiers have been drafted in to help police contain rioting.

The riots started yesterday following a newspaper article on the beauty pageant, which Muslims say was blasphemous.

The local Kaduna office of the This Day newspaper was burned down after an article suggested the Prophet Mohammed might have taken a Miss World beauty queen as his wife.

Many Muslims regard the pageant, due to be held in the capital Abuja on 7 December, as an insult to their conservative values.

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