100 Die in Communal Fighting in Nigeria

More than 100 people were killed and 1,000 wounded in fresh ethnic and religious fighting in central Nigeria, the country's Red Cross reported yesterday.

The border clashes highlight Nigeria's continuing tensions, with rural violence combining with growing friction between Muslim and Christian communities in Zamfara state over new restrictions imposed under sharia law.

The fighting between Muslims and Christians broke out on Tuesday in six remote farming villages on the border between Plateau and Taraba states.

A Nigerian Red Cross official said the death toll "must have been more than 100, but we cannot confirm a specific number". Nigerian newspapers said 120 people had been killed. More than 5,500 others were displaced, according to the Red Cross.

The latest attacks bring the death toll from two-and-a-half months of violence to at least 350, according to unofficial figures.

The Muslim Fulani, who are mainly cattle herders, and the Christian Tarok, who are subsistence farmers, fight over land and cattle. Most of the killing is done with cutlasses and in arson attacks.

New sharia regulations give the state authorities the power to demolish any "illegal structures", which Christians fear will be used to tear down their churches. They also call for businesses to close five times a day for Muslim prayers.

The clashes have been local so far, but there are concerns that President Olusegun Obasanjo is not taking decisive action to stamp them out.