BBC News Online: World: Africa

Riots engulf Nigerian city

Northern Nigeria has seen repeated sectarian violence

Other reports suggest the death toll in Kano could be much higher.

The Reuters news agency quotes fleeing residents as saying that as many as 200 people were killed during Saturday night in the suburb of Zangon.

Another report said that at least six of the dead were schoolgirls who had been on their way to sit exams.

Peaceful protest

On Friday, a peaceful protest had been staged against the US attacks on Afghanistan, but violence broke out when youths began setting fire to cars and religious buildings.

Although long-running battles between Muslims and Christians in the country have led to thousands of deaths in the past year, officials are playing down religion as the cause of the new violence.

Kano state government spokesman Ibrahim Gwawargwa is blaming the rioting on "hoodlums" hijacking the protest and looting shops owned by both Christians and Muslims.

Tear gas

The BBC's Dan Isaacs in Lagos reports that clashes spread rapidly to many parts of Kano, particularly those with large non-Muslim populations.

Security forces quickly moved in with tear gas and live rounds.

Although Kano is predominantly Muslim, it is also home to a large number of Christians and after recent religious clashes elsewhere in Nigeria, notably in the city of Jos, such an outbreak of violence in the north has long been feared.

Tensions between the two communities have increased since many northern states, including Kano, imposed Shariah law, or Islamic law, in 2000.