Twelve people have been confirmed dead in the crisis which engulfed Kasuwan Magani village in Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Monday.
The state police command on Monday said, seven people were killed while 15 others were injured.
Yesterday, security agencies said they had arrested 18 persons in connection with the mayhem over the alleged conversion of a Christian lady to Islam in the Christian-dominated part of Southern Kaduna.
The crisis, which lasted over three hours, also left about 200 residential homes razed to the ground and a good number of shops destroyed.
The police also disclosed that the violence was premeditated as petrol bombs and other dangerous weapons were deployed during the crisis.
The Kaduna State Security Council visited Kasuwan Magani to assess the level of destruction.
The team comprises the General Officer Commanding, 1 Division, Nigerian Army, Major General Mohammed Mohammed; Commissioner of Police, Austin Iwar; State Director of Department of State Services (DSS), Mohammed Wakil; Commander, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), A. M. Bunu, among others.
Iwar, who spoke to journalists after a tour of the affected area, confirmed that 18 persons had been arrested while 12 were confirmed dead.
The police boss promised that no stone would be left unturned in unraveling the immediate and remote causes of the crisis.
He said: “It is very unfortunate. As you can see, the level of destruction is very high. Some people were killed and properties were destroyed. This is not what we wished for our state, Kaduna.
“Let me say that we will not leave any stone unturned in investigating the remote and the immediate causes of this problem. We will talk to the stakeholders here and try to find out what is the problem and through civil problem-solving approach and conflict resolution, we will deal with that. We will also look at the criminal aspect of it. So far we have arrested 18 people that we suspect were involved in the crisis.
“We are working round the clock to ensure that we get to the roots of the matter. We have recovered a number of dangerous items, including petrol bombs. We believe this is a planned thing and we will get to the roots of the matter. We will do a thorough investigation to ensure that it does not happen again.”
Iwar also recalled that there was a misunderstanding in the area two weeks ago and some arrests were made.
He added: “But we did not know that there was a grand design to carry out massive destruction as it happened.”
On the delayed response by the police, he said, “traveling from Kaduna to here takes about 40 minutes. We needed to prepare and mobilize our men. Police officers are not like items sitting on the shelves of supermarket. We needed to bring people from other places. We took necessary steps to check the crisis. We brought in military reinforcement, Civil Defence and police reinforcement”.
Iwar also disclosed that 11 victims of the crisis were “buried about midnight” while one person who sustained injuries later died in the hospital on Tuesday.
On his part, the GOC urged religious and traditional leaders to deepen the message of peace and integration.
