Gunmen attacked two villages in Katsina State in northwestern Nigeria on Tuesday, killing at least 15 people, according to Nasir Mu’azu, the state’s commissioner for home affairs.
Mu’azu said the villages of Falale and Kadobe—neighboring communities in the Jibia area—were attacked in the early afternoon.
He said local security forces had previously killed three gunmen during a firefight in the area. Mu’azu added that on Tuesday the gunmen carried out a reprisal assault, leaving at least 15 people dead.
In a statement, Mu’azu said security forces had restored order and stabilized the situation. He also appealed to residents to remain calm and allow security forces to complete their investigation.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, Mu’azu said, and the incident came amid a wider security crisis in Nigeria. Armed groups known as “bandits” have carried out raids and kidnappings for ransom in Nigeria’s northwest and north-central regions.
Authorities have said the bandit groups include mostly former herders who took up arms after clashes with farming communities, as resources became increasingly strained.
In addition to the violence linked to banditry, Nigeria also faces an insurgency led by Boko Haram and its splinter faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province. Both groups have mainly operated in the northeast.
On Monday, suspected suicide bombings killed at least 23 people and wounded 108 others in Maiduguri, according to authorities, underscoring how different armed groups have struck in separate parts of the country.
Analysts have said Nigeria’s security crisis has worsened to include other militants from the neighboring Sahel region, including Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, which claimed its first attack on Nigerian soil last year.
The United Nations has data showing several thousand people have been killed in Nigeria, and the AP report said analysts believe the government has not been doing enough to protect citizens. The report also said the United States sent troops last month to advise Nigeria’s military in the fight against insecurity.