A bonfire and overturned vehicles block the road as police attempt to restore calm, in the town of Jos, Nigeria, Sunday June 25, 2018. Some scores of people are reported to have died during weekend clashes in central Nigeria between mostly Muslim herders and Christian farmers. (Nigeria Government via AP)
A bonfire and overturned vehicles block the road as police attempt to restore calm, in the town of Jos, Nigeria, Sunday June 25, 2018. Some scores of people are reported to have died during weekend clashes in central Nigeria between mostly Muslim herders and Christian farmers. (Nigeria Government via AP)

Lagos, Nigeria — Scores are dead after vicious weekend clashes in central Nigeria between mostly Muslim herders and Christian farmers, with one report citing police saying 86 people were killed.

The growing conflict by some accounts has become deadlier than Nigeria’s Boko Haram extremist insurgency.

Nigeria’s president in a statement on Monday accused unnamed politicians of taking advantage of the chaos ahead of next year’s elections, calling it “incredibly unfortunate.”

Dramatic footage from Jos showed angry people waving machetes and sticks and shouting at passing security forces as they weaved around overturned and burning vehicles. Smoke rose in the distance. Women and children clutching overstuffed bags piled into the back of trucks, seeking a way out.

President Muhammadu Buhari warned against reprisal attacks after the “deeply unfortunate killings across a number of communities” in central Plateau State as the military, police and counterterror units were sent to end the bloodshed.

“No efforts will be spared” to find the attackers, Buhari said.

Nigeria’s government said “scores” were killed but did not announce a death toll. The independent Channels Television cited a Plateau State police spokesman, Mathias Tyopev, as saying 86 people had been killed, with at least 50 houses destroyed.

Mass burials began on Monday amid fears that the death toll was even higher.

“Please remain calm,” said the Plateau State governor, Simon Bako Lalong, as a helicopter whirred overhead. “It is very, very, unfortunate that an incident is happening again like this.”

The deadly clashes between herders and farmers in central Nigeria are a growing security concern in Africa’s most populous country, which is roughly split between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south.

The threat from Boko Haram, which continues to carry out attacks in the northeast, has been cited as one cause of the growing tensions as herders — also feeling the effects of climate change — are forced south into more populated farming communities in search of safe grazing.

The Plateau State governor announced a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in the communities of Jos South, Riyom and Barkin Ladi until further notice.

“Observe the curfew, observe the curfew, and I will still remind them to observe the curfew,” he said.