Christian and Muslim mobs rampaged through two Nigerian cities yesterday, killing at least 24 people in violence that followed deadly protests against caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed () over the weekend.

In the mainly Muslim northern city of Bauchi, violent protests by Muslims targeting Christians claimed the lives of 18 people, the Nigerian Red Cross said. In the predominantly southern Christian city of Onitsha, residents and witnesses said at least six Muslims were beaten to death by Christian mobs which also burned two mosques there.

Yesterday's violence brought to 49 the total number of people killed in sectarian violence in Nigeria since Saturday, when protests over the cartoons turned violent in the northern Muslim city of Maiduguri for the first time, killing at least 18 people, police said.

Similar protests broke out in Bauchi city soon afterward, leaving seven dead on Monday and another 18 dead yesterday, Adamu Abubakar, secretary of the Red Cross in Bauchi, told reporters.

Mobs ran through Bauchi's streets wielding machetes and sticks, Abubakar said.

"I am just coming back from Gombe Road, where we carried two dead bodies, both badly mutilated, and just at Boni Haruna Street near the Specialist Hospital, two of my staff were attacked and are seriously wounded," Abubakar said.

"So, the situation is still delicate."

Among the dead there were a man, his wife and their daughter killed on Gombe Road and six other bodies burnt beyond recognition.

Violence in the southern city of Onitsha appeared to have been sparked by Saturday's killings in the mainly Muslim northern city of Maiduguri, where thousands of Muslims attacked Christians and burned churches.

In Onitsha yesterday, residents and witnesses said Christian mobs burned two mosques and beat at least six Muslims with origins in the north to death.

In the Pakistan city of Rawalpindi, shopkeepers shut their doors yesterday to protest against the cartoons even as about 2,000 people chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Denmark" as they rallied in the small town of Barwand in the South Waziristan, a tribal region near the Afghan border.

Some burned flags of Denmark, where the caricatures were first printed.

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