16 killed in village attack in Nigeria: Police

Police say 16 people were killed when herdsmen from Nigeria's mostly Muslim north attacked several Christian villages in the country's rural central belt, the latest in a series of clashes over land.

Police say 16 people were killed when herdsmen from Nigeria's mostly Muslim north attacked several Christian villages in the country's rural central belt, the latest in a series of clashes over land.

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Benue state police spokesman Ejike Alaribe said on Tuesday that the killings occurred on Sunday morning in the northern part of Benue state.

Alaribe says the Hausa Fulani herdsmen burned homes in villages populated by Christian Tiv. The Tiv represent one the largest of the minority ethnic groups in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people and more than 250 different ethnicities.

The Tiv and the Hausa Fulani have previously fought over land in Benue. In December, authorities said fighting between the two groups displaced some roughly 5,000 people in Benue.