100 villagers killed in ethnic groups’ attacks

At least 100 villagers have been killed in Nigeria’s Kaduna state in a spate of attacks linked to disputes over land and religion, emergency officials have said.

Heavily armed men entered three villages in the Kaura district before killing the villagers and allegedly burning the lifeless bodies.

Reports have said that most of the villagers killed had been so badly burned they could not be identified.

No group has since claimed responsibility for the attack, but residents blame members of the mainly Muslim Fulani tribe.

The attacks in Kaduna came only a day after reports emerged of 69 people being killed over several days in northern Katsina state when dozens of armed men arrived in villages on motorbikes.

Central Nigeria has often witnessed violence stemming from disputes over land and religion.

Thousands of people have been killed in recent years in violence blamed on semi-nomadic Fulani herdsmen attacking Christian farmers.

The unrest is not connected with the continuing Islamist insurgency carried out by the Boko Haram group, which wants to impose Sharia law in the north.