At least 86 people have been killed in central Nigeria after violent clashes broke out between farmers and cattle herders, police have said.
Some reports say fighting began on Thursday when ethnic Berom farmers Fulani herders were attacked by ethnic Berom farmers, killing five of them.
The State police commissioner Undie Adie said a search of villages following the clashes revealed that 86 people had been killed, six injured and 50 houses destroyed.
The fighting between herders and farmers by some accounts has been deadlier than Nigeria’s Boko Haram extremist insurgency, which continues to carry out attacks in the northeast.
The Plateau state government said it had imposed restrictions on movements in the Riyom, Barkin Ladi and Jos South areas between 18:00 to 06:00 local time to “avert a breakdown of law and order”.
This region, where the Muslim north meets the Christian south is prone to religious tension – herders are ethnic Fulani and mostly Muslim, while the farmers are mostly Christian. But it’s unclear why this violence is happening right now.
> Shiuly Rina
Police Say 86 People Killed in Nigeria Clashes
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