Muslim Schoolkids Beat Christian Teacher to Death for Unintentional Koran Disrespect

Nigerian police have arrested some 12 people in connection with the gruesome killing of a schoolteacher after students said she desecrated Islam's religious text the Koran, local media reported on Thursday.

Oluwatoyin Oluwasesan had allegedly collected books from her students before they were to write an exam and tossed them outside of the classroom. A copy of the Koran was apparently among the texts, sparking uproar by the pupils, Nigeria's This Day newspaper said.

'The school principal said before they knew what was happening, the students started shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is great). It was gathered that all efforts at controlling the rampaging students proved abortive,' This Day reported.

Oluwasesan, a Christian, taught at the school on a contract basis and was assigned to watch over the students as they wrote the exam.

According to police, the students beat the teacher to death, although This Day said she and parts of the school were set on fire.

At least five people were killed and several churches burned down in February 2006 in the neighboring state of Bauchi by Muslims infuriated that a Christian teacher in a secondary school had tried to confiscate a Koran from a student who was reading it during class.

At least 15,000 people have died in religious, communal and political violence in Africa's most populous country since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democracy after 30 years of almost unbroken military rule, analysts say.

Christian leaders have complained of renewed pressure on Christians in northern Nigeria, which they say includes the kidnapping of Christian children and attempts to occupy church buildings.

The Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest Pentecostal churches in Nigeria, said this week that a "Shiite sect" was trying to take over its property.

An Islamic group called Izala built a mosque near the denomination?s Kokeri parish and took the church to court to force it relocate and take over its property, Pastor Abisona Michael told Compass Direct News, a Christian news agency.

He said the court, filled with Muslim judges, was expected to "seize the property" and give it to the Muslims. "Such cases are very common in northern Nigeria, and the church is helpless about it," he was quoted as saying.