Many refugees sought police escorts to the neighbouring Bauchi and Nassarawa states, fearing that militant Christians blocking roads at nearby villages would kill them, a Red Cross worker said.

The conflict between the Christian Tarok and the Muslim Fulani is rooted in rival claims over the fertile farmlands of Plateau state in central Nigeria, but is stoked by religious hatred and the sense among many Christians that Muslims are outsiders.

Survivors of the massacre said they had buried 630 corpses around the remote market town after Sunday's attack. A senior policeman spoke of "hundreds" dead.

Nigeria's 130 million people are split roughly equally between Muslims and Christians. More than 5,000 have died in violence since 2000, when 12 northern states established Islamic law.