Report: At least 11 dead in latest Nigeria violence

Mar 17, 2010, 13:57 GMT

Nairobi/Abuja - At least 11 people have been killed by Muslim herdsmen in the latest of a wave of attacks centred on Nigeria's restive central town of Jos, reports said Wednesday.

Nigeria's Plateau State Radio said the men, women and children were hacked to death and their houses were set on fire overnight in the village of Riyom, just outside Jos.

The attack was the latest outbreak of violence between rival ethnic groups in Plateau State, where the indigenous Christians are struggling with Muslims who immigrated to the region decades ago over control of land and resources.

Earlier this month, around 400 people died when Muslim Hausa-Fulani tribesmen descended on four villages and slaughtered the mainly Christian occupants.

That massacre was believed to be in reprisal for violence in Jos at the start of the year. More than 300 people died in January when rival gangs of youths clashed in Jos, burning mosques, churches and businesses.

Religious and political leaders worldwide have condemned the clashes and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi called for Nigeria to split between the mainly Muslim north and Christian-dominated south to avoid more bloodshed.

More than 10,000 people have died in ethnic clashes since Nigeria's return to civilian rule in 1999.