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Last weekend 238 Christians were killed in a number of attacks by militia in Plateau State, a region in the heart of the country.

Campaigners are warning it is just the latest example of “pure genocide” in a country ravaged by religious division.

A joint statement issued by the Christian Association of Nigeria said more than 6,000 Christian worshippers - “mostly children, women and the aged” - had already been killed this year.

They said: “There is no doubt that the sole purpose of these attacks is aimed at ethnic cleansing, land grabbing and forceful ejection of the Christian natives from their ancestral land and heritage.

“What is happening in Plateau state and other select states in Nigeria is pure genocide and must be stopped immediately.”