Several dead in Nigerian land dispute

JOS, Nigeria, Apr 13 (Reuters) Several people have been killed in three days of skirmishes between two Nigerian tribes over ownership of land in the central state of Plateau, authorities said today.

Details of the clashes around the market town of Namu, 100 km east of the capital Abuja, were sketchy and the Plateau State police declined to specify the number of dead.

''Skirmishes started on Monday, but security has been reinforced and the place is now quiet,'' Plateau State Police Commissioner Richard Chime said.

Namu is just 40 km from Yelwa, a larger market town where hundreds of people were killed in similar skirmishes in 2004.

The killings in Yelwa also began as a tribal dispute over land, but quickly inflamed rivalry between Christians and Muslims and sparked religious violence hundreds of miles away in Nigeria's largest northern city, Kano.

An emergency services source said fewer than 10 people have been killed over three days in these latest clashes. About 35 people have been injured and roughly 750 displaced.

A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed on two local government areas around Namu, which is claimed by both the Pan and Gomai tribes -- two tiny minorities inhabiting the rich farmland in the south of Plateau State.

The Pan and Gomai tribes incorporate both Christians and Muslims, in addition to a large population of animists, and so far the fighting has not so far taken on religious overtones.

REUTERS SHB PM1635