Pope Benedict XVI denounced on Wednesday the bloodshed in Nigeria after a massacre of 109 Christian villages, as Nigerian police said 49 people would be charged over the killings.

Benedict offered condolences to the victims of the "atrocious violence causing bloodshed in Nigeria" and urged civil and religious leaders "to work towards security and peaceful co-existence".

The three-hour killing spree in the early hours of Sunday was the latest wave of sectarian violence in and around the city of Jos where several hundreds of people were killed in Muslim-Christian clashes in January.

The security forces have faced heavy criticism over their failure to intervene to stop the latest killings when a curfew was meant to be in force.

-AFP/NOW Lebanon