Nigerian communal violence

Gunmen in Nigeria shot dead a federal senator and state lawmaker on Sunday, as the two politicians were attending the mass burial of victims from weekend attacks on Christian villages.

The spokesman of the Plateau State government, James Mannock, identified the two men as Senator Gyang Dantong and the majority leader of the state legislature, Gyang Fulani.

The shooting deaths come a day after attacks on at least nine Christian villages in Plateau State, located in Nigeria's volatile "Middle Belt," where the predominantly Muslim north meets the Christian south. At least 52 people were killed in the violence.

Officials have blamed Saturday's attacks on Muslim herdsmen from the Fulani tribe. The region has a history of violence between Christian and Muslim groups, with Human Rights Watch reporting that 1,000 people were killed in communal clashes there in 2010.

Fulani deny involvement

But chairman of the Plateau State Miyetti Allah Fulani Herdsman Association, Nurudeen Abdullahi, denied any involvement by Fulani herdsmen in Saturday's violence.

"This is a usual propaganda used on our people but we are not the ones that attacked villages in the area," Abdullahi said.

Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, is a nation of 160 million people almost evenly divided between Christians and Muslims. Religious violence has swelled over the past year, with the Islamic insurgent group Boko Haram - based in the country's north - launching attacks on Christians.

Although Boko Haram has not been indicated in the weekend violence, security experts believe the group's aim is to trigger a broader ethno-religious war in Nigeria.

"As a nation, we must rise against those who are determined to return us to a state of nature where life has little or no value," Nigerian Senate President David Mark said in a release.

slk/jw (AP, AFP, Reuters)