JOS, Nigeria (AP) _ Security forces have imposed a curfew in central Nigeria after rioters armed with machetes slaughtered more than 200 people in renewed violence between Muslims and Christians.

Hundreds of people have fled their homes, fearing reprisal attacks.

Local journalists and a civil rights group say the bodies of the dead lined the streets of three mostly Christian villages south of the regional capital of Jos.

The city lies in a region separating Nigeria’s Muslim north from the predominantly Christian south.

Witnesses who escaped the massacre said they believed the attackers were Muslims.

The Red Cross says Nigerian military units are surrounding the three affected villages.