At least 100 people have been killed in weekend attacks on three villages in central Nigeria, local officials say.
Scores of residents were also injured when about 40 assailants armed with guns and machetes stormed the villages of Angwan Gata, Chenshyi and Angwan Sankwai, attacking locals in their sleep and torching their homes, said Yakubu Bitiyong, an MP at the Kaduna state parliament.
"We have at least 100 dead bodies from the three villages attacked by the gunmen" overnight Friday to Saturday, he told AFP news agency.
Some of the victims "were shot and burnt in their homes while others were hacked with machetes," Bitiyong said.
Kaduna police spokesman Aminu Lawan confirmed the attacks but refused to give a casualty toll or say who was behind the violence.
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Local residents blamed the bloodshed on Muslim Fulani herdsmen, who have been accused of similar raids in the past.
Chenshyi village was the worst affected with at least 50 people killed, said Adamu Marshall, a spokesman for the Southern Kaduna Peoples' Union, a regional political and cultural body.
"Many people are still in the bush, afraid to return to their burnt homes," he said, confirming a total toll of at least 100 dead.
"The attackers looted food and set fire to the barns during the attacks," he added.
Fulani leaders have for years complained about the loss of grazing land which is crucial to their livelihood, with resentment between the herdsmen and their agrarian neighbours rising over the past decade.
