Up to 33 persons were confirmed dead on Friday by local residents and officials in central north Nigeria's Plateau State following an attack by unknown gunmen in three communities.

Mark Lipdo, the coordinator of Stephanus foundation, an NGO, told Xinhua that 33 people were killed in the early hours of Thursday in Langtang south local government of the state.

The transitional chairman of Langtang area, Narman Darko, also confirmed 33 people dead in the three affected villages, linking the killing to Fulani militias.

The state commander of the Special Task Force (STF), Brig.-Gen. Henry Ayoola, confirmed that many casualties had been recorded.

"There are many casualties on the side of the adversaries. The STF men deployed to restore order had to battle the attackers so as to bring the situation under control," he said.

"We have also made a lot of arrests but I cannot give you figures now because the operation is not totally over," the military commander told Xinhua.

Trouble started in the early hours of Thursday when some gunmen laid siege on Bolgang, Magama and Karkashi villages.

A Xinhua reporter in the state said the gunmen shot and killed many villagers while others fled.

Plateau State is situated in Nigeria's middle belt where the Muslim-dominated north and the Christian-majority south meet. The state capital Jos was plunged in a pool of blood on March 7, 2010, when members of local Muslim and Christian communities fought each other in revenge for previous killings.

The state has recently witnessed bomb blasts and constant rifts between Berom and Fulani herdsmen, with many, especially women and children, murdered in cold blood in the state.

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