At least 20 people were killed in Nigeria’s Sokoto state when gunmen attacked a market and torched several cars.
The attack comes as the latest in a series of armed gang violence wreaking havoc in the northwestern part of the country, Reuters news agency reported.
Idriss Gobir, Special Advisor to the Sokoto Police Affairs Minister, said the armed bandits rode on motorcycles and shot sporadically, killing several people.
“The bandits, who came in large numbers, killed at least 20 people that we have seen and counted, and set nine vehicles on fire,” he told Reuters .
A Sokoto police spokesperson confirmed the attack but could not immediately say how many people had been killed.
Northwestern Nigeria has since last December witnessed a wave of kidnappings of school children and villagers for ransoms by bandits, disrupting everyday life for millions of citizens.
