New attacks by unidentified assailants in the northwestern state of Zamfara in Nigeria have killed at least 32 people amid a recent escalation of terror attacks in the African country.
The latest attack took place in the Birnin-Magaji area of the state. Local government chairman Muhammad Gusami confirmed the deadly incident in a Sunday news briefing in the state capital of Gusua.
According to the official, the gunmen targeted the villages of Kokeya and Chigama after first intruding into Kokeya with motorbikes, killing two villagers and setting ablaze a number of homes and taking away farm animals, mostly cows.
Gusami further said that the assailants then returned to the area, slipping into the neighboring Chigama Village and killing more than 30 people.
Meanwhile, state police spokesperson Sanusi Amiru was cited in local press reports as saying that police and army forces have been dispatched to the area and have restored order there.
The development came amid reports that a Sunday bombing attack on a church in the country’s volatile northeastern city of Potiskum in Yobe State killed at least five people.
According to police and eyewitnesses, the attack took place when the bomber detonated her explosives after walking into the uncompleted church in the Jigawa neighborhood of the city.
While no individual or group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, the Takfiri Boko Haram terrorist group is suspected to be behind it since it has repeatedly struck the commercial city in the past.
Over the past few days, the radical militant group has also targeted mosques, villages and markets in neighboring Borno State in a fresh wave of attacks that have killed more than 200 people over the past week.
Reacting to the recent attacks, Nigeria’s former President Goodluck Jonathan has urged his nation to cooperate with newly-elected President Mohammadu Buhari in the war against terrorism in the African country.
Jonathan was further cited in local press reports as saying that the war against terrorism is a task for all Nigerians and not merely the responsibility of the country’s armed forces.
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