By CHINEDU ASADU, Associated Press

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) – Nigerian security forces are searching for armed gangs who have killed 47 people in attacks in recent days in rural areas in the northwest of the country, the latest killings in the troubled region.

The attacks took place in northwestern Kaduna state, neighboring Nigeria’s capital Abuja, Kaduna’s security commissioner Samuel Aruwan confirmed.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but they are suspected to be blamed on the bandit gangs that have killed at least 2,500 people in the northwest and central states so far in 2021, statistics gathered. by the American Council on Foreign Relations. Attacks have intensified over the past three months, so the death toll for the entire year is expected to rise.

The armed groups consist mainly of young men of the Fulani ethnicity who traditionally worked as nomadic pastoralists and found themselves caught up in decades-long conflict with Hausa farming communities over access to water and pasture.

Security forces deployed after the attacks are patrolling the affected areas, but no arrests have been announced and details continue to emerge. Local residents reported that the attackers raged for hours in some of the villages.

Nine people were killed in three villages on Friday, according to Kaduna Commissioner Aruwan, a reminder of how armed groups are able to carry out protracted assaults in remote places where aid is often delayed due to a presence inadequate security.

Another 38 people were killed by assailants in another part of Kaduna on Sunday, Aruwan confirmed.

Houses, trucks and cars were set on fire, along with agricultural products on some farms, he said.

Ongoing violence in the troubled northwestern region of Nigeria has defied measures introduced by authorities, including the deployment of thousands of security forces to restore peace to hot spots of violence and the recent designation of armed groups. as terrorist organizations.

Part of the problem is that the Nigerian military is already overwhelmed in a decade-long war against hardline Islamic rebels in the northeast region. Rebels from Boko Haram and its branch Islamic State in West Africa province allegedly infiltrated the northwest gunmen as they sought to expand their influence and control, authorities say local.

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