Lagos/Awka/Abuja/Minna — Calm yesterday returned to Onitsha, Anambra State's main commercial city after two days of reprisals for the killing of Igbo Christians by Moslem fanatics in Maiduguri, Borno State last weekend.

The Onitsha mayhem which reportedly led to the death of hundreds of people displaced many residents who had taken refuge in army and police barracks in the troubled city.

Business activities and vehicular and human traffic which were at low ebb during the reprisals picked up yesterday as commercial and social activities resumed with people going about their business.

But the state government, apparently reacting to an unconfirmed report of an invasion of a primary school by Moslems who allegedly killed many of the pupils on Wednesday, yesterday ordered schools in the state to proceed on mid-term break to protect school children from the raging violence.

Consequently, schools in the state remained closed yesterday even as the dusk to dawn curfew imposed on the state remained in force.

But the two days of violence left the commercial town in ruins with at least four burnt bodies left on one of the streets in Upper Iweka area.

The Niger Bridge Head area, the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, Zik Roundabout and the New Motor Spare Parts Market in Nkpor also had a number of burnt buildings and cars as testimony that violence visited the town.

The calm currently holding sway may, however, have been induced by the heavy presence of soldiers, the police and other security operatives in and around Onitsha and the neighbouring Nnewi.

Four Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) were also stationed at strategic locations and flash points in the city, particularly the upper Iweka area, regarded as Onitsha's gate way.

The Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, yesterday visited the victims of the mayhem at the Army Barracks in Onitsha to commiserate with them, assuring the survivors of their safety and urged them to be calm as help would soon be extended to them.

Fearing that the reprisals may spread to their domains, police authorities at the Federal Capital Territory and Niger State have taken preemptive measures to forestall any clash between Christians and Muslims.

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command yesterday summoned religious leaders in the city and handed out a strong caution to them, threatening to deal with anyone want who might foment trouble in the nation's capital city.

The command's Comm-issioner of Police, Mr. Lawrence Alobi, THISDAY gathered had to caution the religious leaders because of reports that some people were planning reprisals, after today's Juma'at prayers, for the killing of their kinsmen in Maiduguri and Onitsha.

Alobi warned the religious leaders and community heads that government would not spare any persons or group of persons that disrupt public peace in Abuja.

"We are aware of what is happening in other places, but we will not allow this to happen here in the capital.

The Nigeria Police Force is committed to ensuring that peace and tranquility prevail in the FCT. We won't tolerate anybody from outside Abuja to come and cause trouble here. We have a duty to maintain peace and I want to assure residents that we won't hesitate to do what needs to be done in maintaining that peace," he said.

A cross section of leaders who spoke at the occasion pledged their loyalty and support to the government and security agencies and promised to keep the peace.

In Minna, the state government called for calm and appealed to the people to be their brothers' keeper.

In a statement issued by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Adams Erena, the people were enjoined to remain calm, maintain peaceful co-existence and shun any act that was capable of disrupting the peace of the state.

He called on religious and community leaders to educate and advise their followers and subjects on the need to desist from acts that could lead to the breakdown of law and order in the state.

He said no meaningful development could be achieved in a state of crises, adding that, the peace of the nation should be the concern of all, both the governed and the government.