'The situation this morning is gradually returning to normal. There's not been any cases this morning of any destruction or violence,' Brigadier Emeka Onwamaegbu told AFP.

Muslims and Christians clashed in the streets of the Plateau State capital Jos Friday and Saturday over the results of a local election held Thursday.

Although there was no official casualty toll, several witnesses spoke of hundreds of dead.

Plateau State spokesman James Mannok told AFP by phone that he was not able to give a casualty toll for the clashes.

A Nigerian Red Cross official in Jos, who asked to remain anonymous, Sunday told AFP: 'Well over 300 people have been killed in the last two days of violence.'

Mr Khaled Abubakar, the imam from the central mosque in Jos said on Saturday that 'close on 400 bodies' had been laid out in the mosque.

Earlier in the day Saturday a local journalist said he counted 381 bodies in the mosque.

'I think those figures are quite exagerated from what I've been told, but I don't want to guess,' said the army spokesman, who could not himself give a figure for the number of dead.

A Muslim cleric confirmed that calm has returned to the town.

'There's been no reports of violence this morning, the army has taken over the capital but the only fear is what might happen at the outskirts of the town,' Mr Adamu Tsoho told AFP.

'Muslim prayers were observed on 351 dead bodies at the central mosque and then taken to the cemetery where they are being buried,' he said.

Another 30 bodies had been removed from the mosque on Saturday night by relatives and had been buried.

A police spokesman said the clashes were triggered by a rumour Friday that the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) had lost in a local election to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The ANPP is perceived in Jos to be a predominantly Muslim party, and the PDP mainly Christian.

Radio Plateau said the governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, had placed four districts of Jos under a curfew and ordered police to fire on anyone who broke it following Friday's clashes.

The whole of the city was under a dusk-to-dawn curfew overnight. -- AFP