Women, kids among 300 killed in Nigeria on Sunday

As many as 300 people, many of them young children, were killed in Nigeria on Sunday. The latest communal bloodletting between Muslim and Christian villagers erupted near the central Nigerian city of Jos. Ongoing tensions over farmable land is thought to be at the root of the violence.

The majority of those slaughtered in the attacks were women and children who had tried to flee their homes after hearing gun shots outside.

They were hacked to death with machetes as they fled. Survivors blame the neighbouring Fulani tribesmen for the massacre.

On Monday, Nigeria buried hundreds of victims of Sunday's sectarian clashes in mass graves in the country's central region. The latest communal bloodletting between Islamic pastoralists and Christian villagers erupted near the central Nigerian city of Jos, where sectarian violence killed hundreds in January.

The majority of those slaughtered in the early morning attacks were women and children who had tried to flee their homes after hearing gun shots outside, but were hacked to death with machetes as they came out. Survivors blamed the neighbouring Fulani tribesmen for the massacre.

In January, four days of sectarian clashes between mobs armed with guns, knives and machetes killed hundreds of people in Jos, the capital of Plateau state, which lies at the crossroads of Nigeria's Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.

The latest unrest in the volatile region comes at a difficult time for Nigeria, with Acting President Goodluck Jonathan trying to assert his authority while the country's ailing leader Umaru Yar'Adua remains too sick to govern.

Jonathan deployed hundreds of troops and police to quell January's unrest, in which community leaders put the death toll at more than 400 while official police figures estimated the death toll at 326.

The instability underscores the fragility of Africa's most populous nation as it approaches the campaign period for 2011 elections with uncertainty over who is in charge. The bloody aftermath of deadly clashes in Jos state in Nigeria. As many as 300 people, many of them young children, were killed in the attacks early on Sunday. Witnesses say Hausa-Faulani herders from surrounding hill areas attacked three villages around 3:00 am.

As the slain bodies were collected in the village of Dogo Nahawa, those who survived, like Moses Tarrok, described their ordeal. Aid workers say some bodies were charred, and some had been shot. It was not immediately clear what triggered the latest attacks, which left many in serious condition in hospital, though ongoing tensions between Muslim herders and Christians over farmable land is thought to be at the root of the violence.

Attacks between the two groups in January left at least 326 people dead in Jos province.