(Reuters) - Sixteen people were killed in an attack in Nigeria's north-central state of Plateau, where clashes between herders and farmers are common, the AFP News Agency said on Sunday, citing the Nigerian army.

       The attack occurred in the village of Mushu, AFP said in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

       The Nigerian army did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

       Plateau is one of several ethnically and religiously diverse hinterland states known as Nigeria's Middle Belt, where inter-communal conflict has claimed hundreds of lives in recent years.

       In May, fights between farmers and herders in the Plateau state had killed over 100 people.

       The violence is often painted as ethno-religious conflict between Muslim herders and mainly Christian farmers. But climate change and expanding agriculture are also major factors.

       (Reporting by Baranjot Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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