Jos boils again! 18 die in renewed attack

corpses in Jos after a previous attack

Attackers armed with rifles killed 18 people in a village in central Nigeria on Tuesday, the latest violence in a region beset by sectarian clashes, a local government official said.

The attack took place just before dawn in Barkin Ladi, an area close to Jos, the capital of Plateau state.

Clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs have killed more than 200 people in the region since the end of December.

"I can confirm that 18 people were killed," Fom Pam Dawak, chairman of the Barkin Ladi local government area, said.

He said one of the attackers was among the dead and that state government officials had found spent bullet casings from high-velocity rifles at the scene.

The attackers were believed to be members of the mostly Muslim Fulani ethnic group, Dawak said.

Sectarian clashes in the "Middle Belt", the central region around Jos, have killed thousands over the past decade.


Culled from Rueters