The area around Jos has been the site of several massacres this year [AFP]
The area around Jos has been the site of several massacres this year [AFP]
Most of the victims of the raid on the village of Byei in the Riyom region of Nigeria's Plateau state were women and children, state radio reported.
At least 13 people have been killed by armed herdsmen near Nigeria's central city of Jos, close to where hundreds of people have died in ethic and religious clashes this year.
"I can confirm that 13 people have died while six others have been critically injured," Gregory Yenlong, the state's information commissioner, said.
Yvonne Ndege, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, said: "We know that the attack was executed by Muslim Fulani herdsmen on a Christian community.
"One of the most worrying things we're hearing is that some of those who survived the attacks are alleging that some of the attackers were dressed in Nigerian military fatigues."
She said the military was preparing a statement and would likely deny any involvement in the attack.
Military deployment
Reports from the scene said that many of the victims had deep machete cuts and had been partially burned.
At least three huts were also burned in the raid.
The attack happened despite a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Plateau state, which has been enforced by the military since January when hundreds of people, mainly Muslims, were killed in clashes in the region.
Earlier in March, more than 500 people, predominantly Christian villagers near the central city of Jos, were killed in an attack blamed on Muslim herders from nearby hills.
"Enough is enough. We don't want the military again," said Emmanuel Jugu, who represents Riyom in the Plateau parliament.
"We have been observing the curfew. So how can people now come and slaughter us. The military should withdraw. We are capable of defending ourselves."
Plateau, of which Jos is the capital, lies at the crossroads of Nigeria's Muslim north and Christian south, a region known as the "Middle Belt".
The repeated unrest has been attributed in part to fierce competition for control of fertile farmlands between Christian and animist indigenous groups on one side and Muslim settlers from the north on the other.
The unrest comes at a difficult time for Nigeria, with Goodluck Jonathan, the country's acting president, trying to consolidate power while Umaru Yar'Adua, the ailing president who recently returned from three months in a Saudi hospital, is too sick to govern.
At least thirteen people were killed by armed herdsmen in Nigeria yesterday, in a village near the city of Jos, reports say.

According to witnesses, the herdsmen, who were disguised as soldiers, attacked the village of Byei, south of Jos, at dawn. Media reports say that most of the dead were women and children.

"I can confirm that thirteen people have died while six others have been critically injured," commented state information commissioner Gregory Yenlong.

A correspondent for the Al Jazeera news agency said that the military was preparing a statement about the attack, and probably will deny any involvement in it.

Violence in and around Jos, mainly between Christians and Muslims has recurred frequently in recent times, and has claimed several thousand lives. Last week 200 people were killed after clashes in villages near the city, while in January, another 300 people died in similar unrest. The violence has been blamed partially to competition for fertile land between Muslims in the north, and Christian and animist groups from the south.

According to reports, many of the victims had deep wounds from machetes, and some were burned; at least three huts were torched in the violence as well.