LAGOS, Feb. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- At least 16 people were killed and 11 churches burned on Saturday in violent protests against the cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad in northern Nigeria, police said.

    "Two states are affected. The first happened in Maiduguri, Borno state. Fifteen people were killed in the crisis. Eleven churches were burned," police spokesman Haz Iwendi told Xinhua from the capital Abuja.

    "The second is in Katsina state. One people killed, two policemen were injured."

    He said that normality had been restored after police arrested 115 people in Maiduguri and 105 in Katsina and that a curfew had been imposed.

    These were the first violent protests in Nigeria over the cartoons. Enditem