47 people die in armed attacks in northwestern Nigeria

By Adam Abu-bashal and Yasin Cenan

ABUJA, Nigeria (AA) - At least 47 people were killed by armed attacks in northwestern Nigeria, local authorities said on Sunday.

Gambo Isa, the police chief in the northern state of Katsina in the West African country, told reporters that an unidentified armed group had carried out attacks in the Dutsinma, Dan Musa and Safana regions.

He said the attacks had also resulted in many wounded who were subsequently hospitalized, adding that the attacks caused serious material damage in the area.

Isa underlined that air and ground operations had been launched in the region.

Local media reported that the latest attack might have been an act of revenge since residents in the region had prevented earlier attempts.

The northwestern part of Nigeria faces occasional clashes between the herder Fulani people -- one of the largest ethnic groups widely dispersed across West Africa -- and neighboring sedentary tribes.

The Fulani people, who migrated to the south of the country to graze their animals, claim that farmers were trying to steal their animals and attack their people.

Armed groups sometimes take advantage of these conflicts and organize attacks.

- Operation against Boko Haram

Separately, Nigerian Defense Ministry Spokesman John Enenche told reporters earlier on Sunday that at least 10 Boko Haram terrorists had been killed in an operation in country's northeasternern state of Yobe.

Noting that many weapons and much ammunition were seized in the operation, Enenche said that security forces had suffered no casualties.

Boko Haram launched a bloody insurgency in 2009 in northeastern Nigeria but later spread into the neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a military response.

More than 30,000 people have been killed, and nearly 3 million displaced in a decade of Boko Haram's terrorist activities in Nigeria, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Violence committed by Boko Haram has affected some 26 million people in the Lake Chad region and displaced 2.6 million others, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

* Writing by Jeyhun Aliyev from Ankara