Armed gangs have killed 21 people in the latest bloody assaults on villages in restive northwest Nigeria, police said.
Assailants trying to steal cattle shot dead 15 people in clashes with local residents in six remote communities of Zamfara state on Tuesday, regional police spokesman Mohammed Shehu.
The gunmen — dubbed “bandits” by the authorities — returned the next day and shot dead six mourners at funerals for the earlier victims, the statement released Thursday said.
Nigeria’s northeast has been wracked by years of violence, involving clashes between rival communities over land, attacks by heavily armed gangs and retaliation strikes from vigilante groups.