Gunmen killed at least 47 people in attacks on villages in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Katsina in the early hours of Saturday, reported SBS News.
Gambo Isa, the police chief in the northern state of Katsina in the West African country, told reporters that an unidentified armed group had carried out pre-dawn attacks in the Dutsinma, Dan Musa and Safana regions.
He said many have been wounded in the attacks, adding that the attacks caused serious material damage in the area.
Isa underlined that air and ground operations had been launched in the region and confirmed that the security forces, including soldiers and policemen, were deployed to the area on Sunday.
A spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari confirmed the attack, condemning the gunmen as “bandits”.
The bandits were believed to be members of criminal gangs specializing in cattle theft and kidnapping for ransom in the area. Hundreds of people were killed last year by criminal gangs carrying out robberies and kidnappings in northwest Nigeria.
Such attacks have added to security challenges in Nigeria, which is already struggling to contain Islamist insurgencies in the northeast and communal violence over grazing rights in central states. In February, 30 people were killed when a gang of cattle thieves raided Tsauwa and Dankar villages in Katsina state’s Batsari district.
President Buhari, in a statement, said he would not tolerate large scale killing of innocent people by criminal gangs.
“In line with my commitment to security of the people, these attacks will be met with decisive force,” said Buhari.
In related news, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on Sunday reported 86 new Coronavirus cases, taking the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 627. The number of deaths also increased from 19 to 21, just as the number of recoveries rose to 170.
The agency revealed that 70 cases were reported in Lagos, seven in FCT, three in Katsina, three in Akwa Ibom, one in Jigawa, one in Bauchi and one in Borno.
