‘We are under bandits’: Dozens killed and abducted in Nigeria

Armed groups attack remote communities in Niger and Sokoto states, the latest incidents in spiralling cycle of violence.

At least 32 people were killed this week in northern Nigeria after armed groups attacked remote communities in two states, authorities have said.

Local officials and residents told The Associated Press news agency on Thursday that the killings and the abduction of 24 people in Niger and Sokoto states were carried out by the marauding gunmen operating across the northwest and central parts of Nigeria who are notorious for abducting hundreds of school children and travellers for ransom.

The attacks happened barely 48 hours after about 40 people were killed in the country’s north.