Religious strife 'kills hundreds'

More than 200 people have died after renewed religious violence between Christians and Muslims in central Nigeria, it emerged yesterday.

Yemi Kosoko, a reporter with the independent Nigerian news network Channels, said most of the bodies appeared to be women and children killed by blows from machetes.

He said he counted the bodies with an official from the state government in a mainly Christian village near the city of Jos.

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A Red Cross spokesman said the military had surrounded the villages affected by the violence and hundreds of people had fled.

More than 300 people died in religious violence in January around Jos. Sectarian violence in this region of Nigeria has left thousands dead over the past decade.