LAGOS - Gunmen killed ten people in a village in Nigeria's Wukari Local Government Area in the country's northern Taraba State, local police confirmed Tuesday.

Early Tuesday, a group of armed youths stormed a village known as Jibu and opened fire indiscriminately at inhabitants in the village. The carnage left 10 people dead and 15 others injured. About 20 homes were set ablaze, said a police source of the state police.

The motives behind the killing were not known yet, and a joint patrol of police and military forces was imposed to intensify security in the area, according to the local police source.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country where communal, religious and political clashes are commonplace, is a secular country with a population evenly divided between Christians and Muslims. The northern region of the country is predominantly inhabited by Muslims, while Christians dominate the south.