NIGERIA: Twenty-one people were killed in clashes with “bandits” in northern Nigeria’s Zamfara state after villagers refused to pay them money, three locals told AFP Saturday.
Zamfara is one of several states in northwest and central Nigeria where criminal gangs, locally called bandits, carry out deadly raids, kidnappings and lootings. The gangs have been increasingly forging ties with jihadists from the northeast waging a 17-year armed insurrection, causing concern among officialss.
More than 100 people have been killed by jihadists and criminal gangs in northern Nigeria since Sunday, including a brigadier general.
