United States based Human Rights Watch today urged Nigeria to prosecute those behind what it called a massacre of at least 200 Christian villagers and end a cycle of impunity which has allowed instability to persist.

Residents of Dogo Nahawa, about 15 km south of the central city of Jos, buried dozens of bodies including those of women and children in a mass grave yesterday following weekend attacks on three communities by Muslim herders.

"This kind of terrible violence has left thousands dead in Plateau state in the past decade, but no one has been held accountable," said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "It's time to draw a line in the sand."

The rights group called on Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, who promised after unrest around Jos in January that those responsible would be brought to justice, to ensure a credible investigation and prosecutions. Police spokesperson, Mohammed Lerama said 93 people had been arrested. Jonathan deployed troops to quell January's unrest and a dusk-to-dawn curfew was still in place when Sunday's attack took place. Human Rights Watch said the military deployment had been limited to major roads and failed to protect small communities.

Residents of Dogo Nahawa, Zot and Ratsat, all predominantly Christian settlements, said Muslim herders from surrounding hills attacked in the early hours of Sunday, opening fire to force them from their homes before slashing them with machetes.

Some died as they tried to flee, others were burned alive. A witness counted more than 100 bodies on Sunday in Dogo Nahawa alone. Plateau State Commissioner for Information Gregory Yenlong has said 500 people died but the official police death toll is 55, with bodies still being counted. Death tolls have been highly politicised in previous outbreaks of unrest in central Nigeria, with various factions accused of either exaggerating the figures for political ends or downplaying them to try to douse the risk of reprisals. – Reuters