CONAKRY – At least one person was killed and scores wounded in two days of deadly clashes between Christians and Muslims in the Muslim-majority West African country.

"The situation is very difficult in Nzerekore," a police source told Reuters on Sunday, February 6.

"It is still very tense."

The clashes erupted on Friday after a Christian woman, wearing indecent dress, was stopped while passing Muslim worshippers at prayers.

In retaliation, Christians stoned Muslims trying to pray.

Christian youths also went to drive motorbikes near a mosque in the region to disturb the Muslim prayers.

"We have been told of one dead and many injured," said the police source.

Calm was restored by Saturday evening, although sporadic bursts of gunfire were still sounding out in the city.

The violence has forced dozens of women and children to flee the town to seek refuge in the bush.

The West African country, a former French colony, has a population of 10 million, nearly 85 percent of them Muslims.

Tension

The government has slapped a curfew to quell violence in the city.

"We put in place a curfew but, despite that, clashes continued," said the police source.

The government has also dispatched a delegation to talk with Muslim and Christian leaders in the city to calm the situation.

The eastern city has been tense over the sidelining of junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara.

"One of the reasons is the tension gripping the country since the December 3 coup led by Camara after the death of long-time leader Lansana Conte," Hamdi Abdel-Rahman, a Professor of political sciences at Cairo University, told IslamOnline.net.

Camara, who was wounded by an ex-aide, is a member of one of the minority ethnic groups.

He has been held responsible by a UN report for the killings of over 150 pro-democracy marchers in Conakry last September.

"The political tension in Guinea has resulted in the current incidents in Nzerekore," Abdel-Rahman said.