Nigeria suffering devastating toll from farmer-herdsmen clashes this year

Fighting between farmers and herdsmen in Nigeria has killed more people this year than attacks by Boko Haram Islamic extremists, according to a new report.

The International Crisis Group, anon-governmental organization, says the violence threatens to undermine national stability ahead of elections next year.

The report released Thursday says more than 1,300 Nigerians died from the farmer-herder conflicts in the first half of this year, while the death toll from the Nigeria-based Boko Haram's insurgency was about 250.

The herders and farmers are fighting over land and water in Nigeria's fertile central region.

The International Crisis Group, however, says the conflict "has taken on dangerous religious and ethnic dimensions."

The herders are mainly Muslims from the Fulani ethnic group while the farmers are Christians from various minority ethnic groups.