TWENTY-ONE people have been killed by gunmen in separate attacks in Talata Mafara and Maru local government areas of Zamfara State, the police and residents said.
The attacks, it was learnt, occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday.
According to the police, 21 people were killed in the attacks, but residents of the affected communities put the casualty figure at 25.
Residents said the attackers first ransacked peasant communities and stole hundreds of livestock.
They, however, met stiff resistance in some communities and retreated, a source said, asking not to be identified.
The source, however, said a day later, the armed men returned on several motorcycles and killed many in the communities that initially resisted them.