[RIA] An attack by militants in the state of Benue in central Nigeria has left at least 56 people dead, the France Presse agency reported on Sunday night.
On Saturday, Punch reported that 17 people were killed in Nigeria in an attack it said was carried out by armed herdsmen.
"According to the latest count, the death toll from the attacks has risen to 56 people," the governor's media adviser, Solomon Iorpev, told the agency.
The attack on Thursday night prompted the deployment of security forces. The local governor blamed the attack on previous attacks in the region on ethnic herders, including religious ones.
The death toll could rise as search operations progress, officials said.
On Monday, the Daily Post reported that about 50 people were killed in an armed attack by unknown assailants on two villages in the Nigerian state of Plato.