JOS, Nigeria, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Gunmen killed five people in central Nigeria late on Thursday when they stormed an agricultural college to steal cattle, the latest in a series of clashes between Christian and Muslim youths in the region.
Youths from the Muslim Fulani ethnic group injured a further nine people after breaking into a largely Christian farming college in the central Nigerian city of Jos, police said.
Samuel Dido, the chief medical office in a nearby Christian hospital, confirmed he had seen five dead bodies while nine more were being treated for injuries.
There have been almost daily clashes between Christian and Muslim mobs in villages around Jos, the capital of Plateau state, since a series of bombs were detonated during Christmas Eve celebrations, killing scores of people.
The tension in central Nigeria's "Middle Belt" is rooted in decades of resentment between indigenous groups, mostly Christian or animist, who are vying for control of fertile farmlands and for economic and political power with migrants and settlers from the Muslim north.
(Reporting by Shuaibu Mohammed; writing by Joe Brock; editing by Giles Elgood)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
