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Gunmen kill four police officers in central Nigeria

Gunmen have killed four police personnel in central Nigeria's Benue state, police said on Monday, in the latest flare-up in an area beset by bloody clashes between farmers and herdsmen.

The incident happened between Sunday night and early Monday at Anyibe in the Logo area of the state when the police personnel came under attack.

"Sadly, at the moment, four casualties have been suffered by the police," state police spokesperson  Moses Yamu said, adding that extra forces and police planes had been deployed to track down the attackers.

"They shall definitely be apprehended with their weapons of destruction and made to face the full wrath of the law."

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack.

Since the start of the year, Nigeria has seen a growing number of clashes between largely nomadic herders and sedentary farmers over land, water and grazing rights.

Benue state lies in Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt that separates the predominantly Muslim north from the largely Christian south.

It has long been a hotbed of ethnic, sectarian and religious tensions.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who is seeking a second term in office in elections in February, has been under pressure to end the violence and ordered in military reinforcements.

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