Nigerian politicians die at funeral

Jos, Nigeria, 9 Jul – (ANA) - Two Nigerian politicians have died during an attack on a funeral for victims of communal violence that led to at least 37 deaths on Saturday.

The deceased were named locally as Gyang Dantong, a senator with the ruling PDP, and state assembly leader Gyang Fulani. Both were believed to be Christian.

The military said the funeral assault and Saturday's attacks on Christian villages near Jos in Plateau state were probably carried out by the same men. Muslim herdsmen from the Fulani ethnic group were blamed for the violence, but they denied any wrongdoing.

The state governor has now imposed an overnight curfew. The community has been caught up in a cycle of violence with Fulani herdsmen, stemming from a disagreement as to who are the rightful inhabitants of the land in Plateau state, he says. Plateau state lies on the fault line between Nigeria's mainly Muslim north and Christian and animist south.

Human Rights Watch says about 1,000 people were killed in communal clashes around Jos during 2010. (ANA)

FA/ANA/09 July 2012--------------