The Zimbabwe central labour movement has called on the Nigerian government to "move swiftly" to prevent further attacks in the aftermath of a weekend massacre which police said claimed 109 lives.

"We call upon the Nigerian government to move swiftly in dealing with the matter to prevent further attacks on innocent victims," the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said in a statement released here Wednesday.

"Given the fact that these fatal attacks have been recurrent, measures must be put in place to protect these innocent citizens," said the statement, sent to AFP by the Nigeria Labour Congress.

The ZCTU called on the various groups in Plateau State to be tolerant of each other and to have respect for each other's religion.

Pope Benedict XVI also Wednesday denounced the "atrocious violence causing bloodshed in Nigeria" after the massacres of mainly Christian villagers around the city of Jos, capital of central Plateau state.

The police on Wednesay said that 109 people were killed from the early Sunday morning attacks by ethnic Fulani against residents in three Berom villages.

The police figure revised downward the death toll of 500 earlier given by government officials.

The attacks were the latest between rival ethnic and religious groups. Locals said they resulted from a feud first ignited by cattle theft that was fuelled by deadly reprisals.

Thousands have died in ethnic strife in recent years in Jos, which lies on the dividing line between Nigeria's mainly Muslim north and Christian-dominated south.