JOS  (AFP) – Clashes between Muslim and Christian ethnic groups in Plateau state Thursday caused “enormous” destruction, with a number of people dead and houses burned, a military officer said.

Captain Charles Ekeocha said the army had imposed a 24-hour curfew on the Barkin Ladi area of Plateau state after the clashes, the latest in a series of violent incidents between the two communities.

“Lives have been lost, houses have been burned,” he said, adding that exact details were not known “but the loss is enormous.”

The clashes appeared to result from reprisals carried out for violence that had occurred over the previous weekend.

Plateau state lies in the so-called middle belt region between the mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian.