JOS, Nigeria: Gunmen have killed at least 11 traders in central Nigeria, police said yesterday, in the latest violence in the region, which has been hit by decades of ethnic and sectarian strife, reports AFP.

The traders were returning from a rural market in the Riyom district of Plateau state when they were ambushed by “unknown assailants” on Tuesday, said police spokesman Tyopev Terna.

“Eleven people who were returning from a weekly village market in Makera village were shot dead at about 7:30 pm (1830 GMT) yesterday”, he told AFP.

Four other traders were injured in the attack, which happened some 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of the state capital, Jos, heh added.

An investigation has been launched to establish the motive for the attack and to identify the victims, who are believed to be from the Fulani ethnic group. Plateau state lies in Nigeria’s so-called Middle Belt that separates the predominantly Muslim north from the largely Christian south.