More than 100 dead in Muslim-Christian battles in Nigeria.

LAGOS (Reuters) - More than 100 people were believed killed and 1,000 wounded in fresh ethnic and religious fighting in central Nigeria, the Nigerian Red Cross said on Friday.

The death toll from Tuesday’s fighting between Muslims and Christians in six remote farming villages on the border between Plateau and Taraba states has been slow to emerge, partly because the telephone lines are not working in Taraba.

“It must have been more than 100, but we cannot confirm a specific number of dead,” a Nigerian Red Cross Society official said, adding that 5,500 people were displaced.

Local media have reported fighting in the villages of Old Sarkin Kudu, New Sarkin Kudu, Auoshima One, Auoshima Two, Angon Masu and Sabon Layi.

The latest attacks brings the death toll from two-and-a-half months of tit-for-tat violence to at least 350, according to unofficial figures.

The Muslim Fulani, who live principally from cattle herding, and the Christian Tarok, who are subsistence farmers, are fighting mainly over land and cattle. Most of the killing is done with large cutlasses and in arson attacks.