Seventy-nine people are said to have been killed in northern Nigeria, in an attack blamed by police on gunmen from the Fulani community.

The attack targeted a meeting of community leaders and vigilante groups in Galadima village, Zamfara state, a police spokesman told AFP news agency.

The meeting was discussing action against robbers and cattle rustlers.

Fulani herdsmen and farmers from other ethnic groups have frequently clashed in Nigeria over land and faith.

At least 100 villagers were killed in central Kaduna state last month in an attack that was also linked to a dispute between local farmers and the semi-nomadic Fulani herdsmen.

“The governor and other officials were today at Yar Galadima village where they participated in the burial of 79 people killed in the attack by cattle rustlers,” governor’s spokesman Nuhu Salihu Anka told AFP.

The unrest is not connected with the Islamist insurgency waged by the Boko Haram group, which wants to impose Sharia law in the north.