Attackers killed at least 11 people Wednesday in a region of Nigeria that has been convulsed by violence between Muslims and Christians.
Muslim herdsmen, some dressed in military uniforms, attacked a predominantly Christian village at about 1 a.m. Wednesday near the city of Jos, close to where a machete-wielding Muslim group killed hundreds earlier this month, said Choji Gyang, special adviser on religious affairs to the governor of the Nigerian state of Plateau.
The dead included women and children, he said. The attackers, from the Fulani ethnic group, also injured at least four others and stole 120 cattle. Two people are still missing.
The violence has put much of oil-rich Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, on edge, with rumors circulating of more attacks. Authorities in Lagos took the unusual step of sending a text message to residents to try to put them at ease.
"Please be informed that the story of Fulanis trooping into Lagos for the past three days to cause chaos is baseless," the message said. "All security agencies have investigated this rumor individually and collectively and found that there's no iota of truth in it. Be advised to go about your lawful business without fear.
"All agencies remain committed to keep our state and country safe. We are fully alert. Thank-you and pass this message onto others."
Thousands of people in Plateau state have been killed in similar outbreaks of violence in the last ten years, said Corinne Dufka, a senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Though the violence often pits Christians and Muslims against each other, it has more to do with disputes over access to natural resources than religion, according to John Onaiyekan, the archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria.
Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo also has said that the violence is ignited more by ethnic, social, and economic problems than religion.
"If you have one group or a community that has land that's been encroached upon by another community or even by itinerant cattle farmers, then the people who lay claim to the land will fight back," he recently said.
"If there are job opportunities in an area, and persons believe they are indigenous to that area, and (are) not getting enough out of the jobs that are available, they will fight those who are getting the jobs."
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