ABUJA, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of local residents have been killed in separate attacks by gunmen on two villages in Nigeria's northern state of Kaduna, sources said on Monday.
The attacks took place in the Malagum 1 and Sokwong villages in the Kaura local government area in Kaduna on Sunday night, with the gunmen burning houses and other properties, Samuel Aruwan, the commissioner for internal security and home affairs in the state, said in a statement sent to Xinhua.
Aruwan said the military and other security agencies reported the incidents in the southern part of Kaduna to the state government. The official, however, declined to give the exact figure of casualties in the statement when contacted by Xinhua.
Aruwan said an urgent security intervention by the military was ongoing in the area, with an aim to apprehend the criminals.
The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), an umbrella group for some tribal groups in southern Kaduna, said in a statement 38 corpses of slain victims have been recovered after unidentified gunmen attacked on Sunday night two villages in the Kaura local government area of the state.
More than 100 houses were also razed during the attacks, said SOKAPU, adding volunteers were still combing the area and looking for missing people.
Atuk Stephen, chairman of Kaura local government area, was quoted by local media as saying that the gunmen killed 37 people in their attacks on the two villages on Sunday.
Armed attacks have been a primary security threat in Nigeria's northern and central regions, leading to deaths and kidnappings in recent months. ■
