JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nigeria's government says 55 people have been killed in the latest eruption of communal violence in north-central Kaduna state.

A spokesman says President Muhammadu Buhari condemns the fighting that led to Thursday's killings in Kasuwan Magani and that "frequent resort to bloodshed by Nigerians over misunderstandings that can be resolved peacefully is worrisome."

Kaduna's governor cites the state police commissioner as saying that more than 20 people have been arrested. The governor urges "peace and harmony despite ethnic and religious diversity."

Central Nigeria has seen bouts of deadly communal violence that some blame on ethnic and religious differences and others blame on tensions over increasingly scarce resources in Africa's most populous nation.

Nigeria is about equally divided between a largely Christian south and Muslim north.