June 07, 2010 12:23 pm | Updated 12:23 pm IST - Nairobi/Abuja
More than 300 people, most of them women and children, have died of lead poisoning in the northern Nigerian state of Zamfara over the last few months, media reports said on Monday.
Elders in the five affected communities told The Guardian newspaper that the deaths were linked to illegal gold mining.
Officials say that lead separated from the gold during mining appears to have contaminated local water supplies.
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