LAGOS, Feb. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- At least 80 people, most of them Muslims, have been killed in the southern Nigerian commercial city of Onitsha in what were described as reprisal attacks by Christian tribes men, a rights group told Xinhua on Thursday.

Nigerian troops stand patrol past dead bodies lying on the ground in a street in Onitsha Feb. 22. (Reuters)

   "On Tuesday over 60 were killed; on Wednesday over 20 were killed. Some of them are Christians, the majority of them are Muslims," said Emeka Umeh, head of the Lagos-based Civil the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) in Anambra state by telephone.

   He said the rioters were using "machetes, clubs, knives and other metal items," adding that some of them were also using guns.

   Umeh said two Moslem policemen were among the victims as they wanted to help their fellow tribes men. "They were overpowered, they were not shot, they were killed by knives and other metal objects," he said. "Some of the Hausa shops and their houses were also burned."

   There are rumors that Hausas had mobilized their members to attack and kill primary and secondary school children, but Umeh said none of the dead were children.

Nigeria military personnel clash with militant youths in Onitsha Feb. 22. (Reuters)

   Umeh added that the death toll may be much higher as some bodies have been burned to ashes but the situation calmed down on Thursday, after security forces took over the city.

   Onitsha's riots were triggered by Saturday's violent protests in northern Nigeria over Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad, in which at least 16 Christians were killed.

   Currently, about 5,000 non-indigenes are taking refuge at the Onitsha military cantonment for the past two days, a local reporter said.

An man passes a destroyed mosque in Onitsha Feb. 23. (Reuters)

   Also used as temporary abode are two churches, St. Peters Anglican Church and Holy Family Catholic Church and the Army Day Secondary School, he added.

   Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra had extended the dusk-to-dawn curfew he imposed on Onitsha on Tuesday to Awka, the state capital and Nnewi, the second largest commercial town in the state.

   "The governor wishes to warn members of the public to desist from rumor mongering, as that is capable of escalating the violence and could lead to loss of more lives," Ngige said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

   On Saturday, at least 16 Christians were killed in the northern states of Borno and Katsina in the country's first violent protests over the cartoons. The Christian Association of Nigeria, however, put the death toll at over 50.

   Religious clashes between Muslims and Christians are common in the west African country of 130 million people, which are roughly equally divided between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south.

   There has been a wave of protests across the Islamic world over the cartoons first published in September by a Danish paper, which have since been reprinted in Norway and other European countries. Enditem