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12 killed in central Nigeria attack

22 February 2011 23:01 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Twelve people were killed and several others injured in a fresh attack in Nigeria’s restless Plateau State early Tuesday morning, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency..

The attack happened at Rwang Fang village in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau in the early hours of Tuesday by unknown assailants, it reported.

Among those killed was a driver, his wife and their four children, it said.

The military Special Task Force Spokesman, Charles Ekeocha, confirmed the incident and blamed the villagers for not contacting the force on time.

He was quoted as saying: "The attack was carried out around midnight, but the villagers did not inform us until the attackers had fled."

"A military helicopter has been deployed there for aerial surveillance, because some cattle were also rustled during the attack." he said.

Ekeocha said a military helicopter has been deployed there for aerial surveillance and more troops are there to beef up security in the area, and that men of the force were on the trail of the assailants.

The Plateau State is situated in Nigeria’s middle belt where the Muslim-dominated north and the Christian-majority south meet.

It has seen years of ethnic tensions and is a major potential flashpoint ahead of the April presidential elections.

The state capital Jos was plunged in a pool of blood on March 7, 2010, when members of local Muslim and Christian communities fought each other in revenge for previous killings.

Police said 109 people were slain in the March 7 tragedy, mostly women and children, weeks after hundreds died in waves of sectarian violence in the region.

The bombings in Jos on the Christmas Eve last year killed at least 80 people.