Jonah Jang said the carnage could have been avoided was it not for a security lapse. He said he had alerted the army commander of movement of armed gangs into Plateau from neighbouring states on Saturday night.

"I received a report at 9:00 in the evening that some movement of people armed was seen around those villages," Jang told reporters in the capital.

"I reported to the commander of the army and he told me that he was going to move some troop there," he added.

Jang, whose house is situated some five kilometres from one of the affected villages, said he saw a military tank rumble past his house and thought it was headed to the villages.

But "three hours or so later, I was woken by call that they (armed gangs) have started burning the village and people were being hacked to death," he said.

"I tried to locate the commanders, (but) I couldn't get any of them on the telephone."

Officials said more than 500 people from the mainly Christian Berom ethnic group were hacked to death with machetes, axes and daggers in three villages of Dogo Nahawa, Ratsat and Zot on Sunday morning.

But police say they have recorded only 55 deaths while rights groups and local media have various tolls ranging between 200 and 400.

Survivors say the authorities did nothing to prevent the butchery which came at a time when a curfew first imposed after January's bloodshed was meant to be in place.

At least 326 people, mainly Muslims were killed in January in clashes with Christian militants.

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