Dozens of residents belonging to the Madama Village in Northern Nigeria have been killed in three separate attacks by unidentified gunmen on Sunday.
In the attack on the village in the northwestern state of Kaduna, at least 34 people were killed and seven wounded in the attack.
The State Security Commissioner Samuel Aruwan said, “Unidentified gunmen attacked Madama village in Kaura … 34 residents have been confirmed dead following the attack. Seven others sustained injuries.”
Aruwan said that Troops came under fire before forcing the assailants to withdraw after an intense exchange. He said that two suspects were being questioned in connection with the attack.
Elsewhere in Kaduna, another group of gunmen attacked a church in the Kachia district on Sunday.
In a separate statement, Aruwan said that one person was killed and some worshippers were seriously injured.
In the northwestern Sokoto State, 22 Nigerian security personnel were killed in an attack on a remote army base.
Talking to international media, member of the state assembly Aminu Gobir said that 17 bodies were recovered on Sunday and an additional five were found on Monday. He said the dead were 14 soldiers, five police officers, and three members of a civil defence force.
The Islamic State West Africa Province group is active in the northeast since 2016, a thousand miles away from the northwestern region.
Criminal gangs known locally as bandits have terrorized northwest and central Nigeria for years, but they have become more brazen in recent months and the military has renewed operations in the region.
These bandits raid villages, steal cattle, kidnap for ransom and burn houses but analysts see signs of growing cooperation between the gangs and armed fighters fighting a 12-year operation in the northeast.
The military began an anti-bandit campaign earlier this month in Zamfara State and other northern states have imposed restrictions on movement and trade as well as a telecoms blackout to try to control the gunmen.
Armed bandits have been fleeing their camps in Zamfara and spilling into neighbouring states, according to officials and residents.
