JOS: Muslim herdsmen disguised as soldiers butchered and then burned around a dozen Christians today in Nigeria, close to the site of a recent sectarian massacre, officials and witnesses said.

Most of the victims of the raid on a village in the Riyom region of Plateau state were women and children, state radio reported, as locals accused the security forces of failing to act quickly enough to prevent the slaughter.

A reporter at the scene of the carnage in Byei village said that he had counted 12 bodies which bore deep machete cuts and had been partially burned. The state information commissioner put the overall toll at 13.

“I can confirm that 13 people have died while six others have been critically injured,” Information Commissioner Gregory Yenlong told AFP. Those wounded were now being treated at a missionary hospital in Vom, near the state capital Jos, he added. Half a dozen homes had also been torched by the killers, said the reporter. Surviving residents could be seen crying and wailing in grief. Residents said some relations were missing in the wake of the attack.