About 120 people were feared dead in hours of clashes between rival ethnic militias in central Nigeria, local media The Guardian reported Friday.

The clashes between ethnic Tarok fighters in Plateau state and their Ibi rivals from neighboring Taraba state occurred on Tuesday,the newspaper said, but adding that the Plateau state police command denied any knowledge of the incident.

The chairman of the Ibi Council, Alhaji Lawan Abdulkarim, was quoted as disclosing the casualty figure to the Taraba State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Arma Yau-Dauda Abubakar, during the latter's visit to the scenes of the hostilities.

Abubakar allegedly said that the decomposing bodies of the victims were lying in the bush.

He added over 20,000 people were displaced and six villages have been completely destroyed during the clashes that lasted for several hours.

Plateau state has suffered intermittent clashes between religious communities for several years. In September 2001, more than 1,000 people were killed during a week of sectarian violence in the state capital.

But ethnic and religious violence in the west African country are not restricted to the state. Squabbles over benefits associated with the oil industry in the Niger Delta, regularly lead to dozens of people's death in ethnic clashes.

As a multinational country in Africa, Nigeria has a growing population of over 130 million belonging to 373 ethnic groups. Clashes between different ethnic, religious and political groups break out frequently.

Official statistics show that since Nigeria returned to civil rule in 1999 after 15 years of military dictatorship, more than 10,000 Nigerians have been killed in ethnic, religious and political violence.

Source: Xinhua