Makurdi - President Olusegun Obasanjo has ordered the army to halt its activities in central Nigeria, where hundreds of ethnic-Tiv villagers have been killed in what appear to be revenge raids by soldiers. Politicians from the area have also sent an urgent appeal to the US and Britain to help end "this gruesome act of ethnic cleansing".
Governor George Akume told reporters in Makurdi, capital of central Benue state, that President Obasanjo "was not aware of the activities of the military in the area" until late on Wednesday.
The governor, in the first official assessment of the toll, said between 120 and 130 people were gunned down in Gbeji village. Similar killings were reported in five other villages. Unrest in central Nigeria follows a spate of Muslim-Christian riots in towns in the largely Muslim north.