MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, Feb 15 (Reuters) - An armed gang on
motorbikes killed at least 30 people in attacks on two villages
in the northwestern Nigerian state of Katsina, police said on
Saturday.
Twenty-one people were burnt to death and nine villagers
were shot dead on Friday evening in the villages if Dankar and
Tsauwa as the assailants made off with food and livestock, the
police said.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the northwest of
Nigeria since last year, in attacks the government attributes to
bandits - a loose term for gangs of outlaws carrying out
robberies and kidnappings.
Police commissioner Sanusi Buba confirmed the death toll and
said that police and military teams had been deployed to the
village, adding that an investigation is under way.
Security experts say Nigeria can ill afford more instability
as it is already struggling to contain Islamist insurgencies in
the northeast, conflict in central states and militant groups in
the Niger Delta to the southeast.
The death toll from violence continues to rise in Nigeria,
along with incidents of kidnapping and robbery.
Suspected Boko Haram Islamists killed at least 30 people on
the night of Feb. 9 in the northeastern state of
Borno.