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Heavily armed gangs have killed at least 21 people in attacks on five villages in Zamfara State, local officials told AFP on Wednesday.
The assailants struck around 3:00 pm local time, firing on residents in the Sauna district of the Talata Mafara Local Government Area, according to Nasiru Lauwali, a councillor representing the area.
District secretary Alhaji Shehu Garba put the death toll at 23, adding that most of the victims were farmers.
He said three others wounded in the assault were initially taken to Talata Mafara General Hospital and later transferred to a teaching hospital in neighbouring Sokoto State.
Police did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.
The attack is the latest in a wave of violence by criminal gangs that have terrorised rural communities in Nigeria’s northwest and central regions for years.
The gangs, known locally as “bandits”, frequently raid villages, steal livestock, kidnap residents and carry out mass killings.
Although the gangs are primarily driven by financial gain and do not profess a political or religious ideology, authorities and security experts have expressed concern over increasing collaboration between some bandit groups and militants/insurgents.
Nigeria’s security forces are also battling a long-running insurgency in the northeast and separatist unrest in other parts of the country.
