Jos: Gunmen set fire to a home in a Christian village near a central Nigeria city violently divided by faith and shot those who ran outside to flee the flames, killing at least seven people and wounding one other, authorities said on Thursday.
The attack represents the latest killings spiralling out of unrest between Christians and Muslims living around the city of Jos, an area that has seen thousands killed in the last decade in fighting.
That violence continues to go further and further out into rural villages, a potential sign that killings could again rage out of control.
The killings that took place late last night happened in the village of Tahoss, said Mark Lipdo, who runs a Christian advocacy group known as the Stefanos Foundation. The gunmen, suspected to be from the Muslim Fulani herdsmen who roam the pasturelands of the plateau, targeted one specific family in their attack, Lipdo said.
Local police spokesman Samuel Dabai said he visited Tahoss and saw the corpses. Dabai said police had begun an investigation into the attack.
These are just the latest killings to target the Riyom local government area, a rural, 800-square kilometre region of farmlands that supply produces like potatoes, corn and tomatoes to the rest of the nation.
Recent attacks there have killed at least 18 people before the violence Wednesday night.
PTI
