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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Machete attack in central Nigeria leaves 13 dead

JOS, Nigeria – A community leader says men armed with rifles and machetes killed 13 people in an attack on a village in central Nigeria.

The Riyom local government chairman said Tuesday three homes were attacked in the Christian village of Kuru Station around midnight on Monday. Simon Mwaekwom says villagers told him the attackers included soldiers and that soldiers stationed nearby refused to help.

He says the attackers killed children and adults and burned down their houses. He says three people were injured.

The village sits south of Jos, the epicenter of religious violence in Nigeria's "middle belt," where dozens of ethnic groups vie for control of fertile lands. Politics, jobs and land often motivate violence that falls along religious lines.

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