JOS: An overnight attack in a central Nigerian town killed at least 45 people, a spokesman for the state governor`s office said on Saturday.

`Not fewer than 45 people have been confirmed killed by armed bandits in an early Saturday morning attack on Yelwata,` a town in Benue State, said spokesman Tersoo Kula. Locals said they feared around 100 people had died.

`It is terribly bad, many people have died,` Amineh Liapha Hir, a resident of the town, said. `It could be more than 100, and many houses were also burnt.

Another local resident, Christian Msuega, said that he had escapedthe attackbutthathissisterandbrother-inlaw had died, burned alive.

He, too, said he thought about 100 people had died, and blamed Fulani herdsmen for the attack. Muslim ethnic Fulani nomadic herders have long clashed with settled farmers, many of whom are Christian, over access to land and resources. Police spokesperson Udeme Edet confirmed the attack and said police had engaged the attackersin agunbattle.

The governor`s spokesman said: `There was a confirmed attack on the Yelwata community, which occurred around 10pm and lasted for about two hours, there were casualties and a number of houses burnt down.` Kula said that government officials and the police commissioner had visited Yelwata `and have confirmed 45 peoples` deaths`.

Attacks in this region, part of what is known as the central belt of Nigeria, are often motivated by religious or ethnic differences. Two weeks ago, gunmen killed 25 people in two attacks Benue state.-AFP