ZONKWA (AP)– Corpses were loaded onto a truck as women covered their noses to block the smell of decay while fleeing this town in northern Nigeria Thursday, as government officials said next week's gubernatorial elections could not go ahead here because of the violence.

Witnesses say hundreds were killed in the town of Zonkwa alone following Saturday's election that unleashed waves of killings in communities across Nigeria's mostly Muslim north after the Christian president won the vote.
Authorities have been fearful of releasing a death toll for fears of sparking more fighting but an Associated Press tour of rural eastern Kaduna state with military leaders Thursday showed violence far beyond what federal authorities seem willing to acknowledge.
In a town near Zonkwa, children raised their hands above their heads as a military convoy carrying soldiers passed, fearful of being shot at by the machine guns mounted on the back. One broken cinderblock wall in the area bore a single word in white paint: War.