Nigerian police say 49 people are to be charged with murder after communal¹ violence left scores of villagers dead.

尼日利亚警方称，上周日发生的暴力事件导致大量村民死亡，49名嫌疑犯被判处杀人罪。

Police and troops have stepped up patrols in the area

Most of those facing charges are Muslims from the Fulani group, police spokesman Mohammed Lerama told the BBC.

The number of those arrested since the killings² near the city of Jos has risen to 200, he said.

Police say 109 people - thought to be mostly Christians⁴ - died in Sunday's bloodshed（流血，杀戮） . Earlier reports put the toll⁵ at more than 500.

'Burnt bodies'

The violence followed sectarian（宗派的） killings near Jos in January that left more than 300 dead, most of them believed to be Muslims.

Plateau State, in central Nigeria, sits between the mainly Christian³ south and the predominantly（显著地，主要地） Muslim north.

Although the violence takes place largely between Muslims and Christians, analysts⁶ say the underlying⁷ causes are economic and political.

A survivor⁸ in the village of Dogo Nahawa, near the city of Jos, told the BBC he heard his neighbours scream as they were attacked.

"I went to my neighbour's house. I saw all the wives, they killed them, cut their bodies, put fire on them. And the babies. They killed all the children," Pepi said.

Gabriel, the community leader, said his five-year-old granddaughter had been hacked⁹（被乱砍） to death with a machete（大砍刀，弯刀） by Fulani-speaking men who had started shooting a heavy machine gun to scare the residents into the open.

"The shooting was so heavy that people were afraid. People were running helter skelter（慌慌张张，手忙脚乱） because... they had never heard something like this before. [They] ran into them, and they were machete-ed."

International pressure

Officials say police and troops are patrolling the area to prevent further trouble.

Chief of police for Plateau State Ikechukwu Aduba said on Wednesday he had asked for extra help.

"Our urgent patrol efforts after the incident... have yielded good results," he said.

"We have requested reinforcements（增援部队，救兵） , and have been reassured¹⁰... that reinforcement is on its way."

However, international pressure is growing on the Nigerian government to take further action.

On Wednesday Pope Benedict XVI denounced the bloodshed as "atrocious（凶恶的，残暴的） ".

He urged civil and religious leaders "to work towards security and peaceful co-existence".

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions called on the Nigerian government to "move swiftly" to prevent further attacks.

Earlier, the governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, said security lapses¹¹（流逝，过失） had worsened the carnage（残杀，大屠杀） in the three villages targeted.

He said he had warned the army about reports of suspicious people with weapons hours before they attacked, but they failed to take action.

"Three hours or so later, I was woken by a call that they [armed gangs] have started burning the village and people were being hacked to death," Mr Jang said.

"I tried to locate the commanders. I couldn't get any of them on the telephone."