JOS (Nigeria), Nov 30: The Nigerian army took over the stricken city of Jos on Sunday to enforce calm after two days of Muslim-Christian clashes that left hundreds dead.

“The situation this morning is gradually returning to normal. There has not been any case this morning of any destruction or violence,” Brigadier Emeka Onwamaegbu told AFP. Residents also reported troops patrolling the streets and calm returning to the city.

Offering the first official toll, Plateau State’s information minister Nuhu Gagara said about 200 people died during fighting on Friday and Saturday between the rival communities over the results of a local election in the Plateau State capital. Other sources have given a toll twice the official figure.

“This figure is just preliminary, as a search and rescue committee has been inaugurated by the government to go around the city and recover dead bodies,” Gagara told reporters. He did not give a figure for the injured.

Police arrested 500 people on Saturday alone. They were carrying “all sorts of lethal weapons”, Gagara said.

A Plateau State government spokesman was quoted in newspapers as saying that 1,500 youths had been arrested over the two days in connection with the violence.

“Well over 300 people have been killed in the last two days of violence,” one Nigerian Red Cross official told AFP.