November 18, 2001	Sunday	Ramazan 2, 1422

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LAGOS, Nov 17: Nigeria police have arrested six Pakistani Islamic preachers accused of inciting religious violence in the country’s southwest Ogun state, newspapers reported on Saturday.

The Pakistanis and their Nigerian host were arrested on Thursday in Sagamu, a suburb northwest of Nigeria’s commercial city of Lagos, during prayers marking the start of Ramazan, the independent Guardian newspaper said.

Local chiefs and community leaders asked security agents to arrest the Pakistanis after accusing them of incitement and inflammatory teachings capable of igniting violence in the volatile district, the paper reported.

The police were not immediately available for comment.

Scores of Pakistanis have been arrested in different parts of the West African country for allegedly fomenting religious trouble since the Sept 11 terror attacks on the United States, police said. More than 100 people were killed in ethnic and religious clashes in Sagamu last year.—Reuters