(RNS) The Nigerian government has failed to prosecute those responsible for a cycle of violence between Muslims and Christians that resulted in the deaths of 900 people in north and central Nigeria in 2004, Human Rights Watch says in a new report.

Tensions in the central region of Nigeria, which lies between the mainly Muslim north and the largely Christian south, are long-standing and have often led to violent and deadly clashes.

According to the report on the 2004 violence, on Feb. 24, armed Muslims killed more than 75 Christians in the town of Yelwa in Plateau State, at least 48 of them inside a church compound.

Then, on May 2 and 3, hundreds of well-armed Christians surrounded the town from different directions and killed some 700 Muslims. They also abducted scores of women, some of whom were raped.