Dakar, Jun 16 (AP) The death toll from an attack by gunmen in north-central Nigeria over the weekend has climbed to 150, survivors said Monday.

Villagers were still digging through burned structures, counting their dead and looking for the dozens still missing. The previous death toll stood at 100.

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Assailants stormed Benue state's Yelewata community late on Friday night, opening fire on villagers who were asleep and setting their homes ablaze, survivors and the local farmers union said. Many of those killed were sheltering in a local market after fleeing violence in other parts of the state.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the killings, but such attacks are common in Nigeria's northern region where local herders and farmers often clash over limited access to land and water.

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The farmers accuse the herders, mostly of Fulani origin, of grazing their livestock on their farms and destroying their produce. The herders insist that the lands are grazing routes that were first backed by law in 1965, five years after the country gained its independence. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)