The death toll from a series of attacks on villages in central Nigeria has climbed to almost 200, local authorities said on Wednesday, as survivors began to bury the dead.
Armed groups launched attacks between Saturday evening and Tuesday morning in Nigeria's Plateau State, a region plagued for several years by religious and ethnic tensions.
Authorities had previously put the death toll at 163.
During a meeting with Nigeria's vice president on Wednesday, Monday Kassah, head of the local government in Bokkos, Plateau State, said that 148 Bokkos villagers had been killed in the attacks.
Death toll could rise
At least 50 people were also reported dead in several villages in the Barkin Ladi area, according to Dickson Chollom, a member of the state parliament.
There are fears the death toll could rise further as some people remain missing, Kassah told AFP on Tuesday, adding that 500 people had been injured and thousands displaced.
A large number of the dead were buried on Tuesday, with the vice president of the Church of Christ in Nations, Timothy Nuwan, putting the number at 150.
On Tuesday, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu decried the attacks and ordered "security agencies to immediately move in, scour every stretch of the zone, and apprehend the culprits."
Social tensions
Northwest and central Nigeria have been long terrorised by bandit militias operating from bases deep in forests and raiding villages to loot and kidnap residents for ransom.
Competition for natural resources between nomadic herders and farmers, intensified by rapid population growth and climate pressures, has also exacerbated social tensions and sparked violence.
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