Hundreds of people have been reported dead as targets of bandits

At least 200 people have been killed in the northwestern state of Zamfara in Nigeria as a result of a vicious attack by armed militants, residents say.

The attack is believed to have been a response to military airstrikes that killed more than 100 fighters on Monday and forced others into forest hiding places.

In the attack, weapons burned down houses and the bodies of their victims were cut off.

A resident of the village told Reuters news agency that the militiamen were shooting at “anyone seen”.

The attacks are the latest in a violent attack in northwestern Nigeria, where the central government has long been fighting several people. local criminal groups he has described as bandits.

It was reported on Friday that more than 100 people had been killed by alleged “tedious” militants in the region, after about 300 armed men who were riding motorbikes from Tuesday to Thursday evening reached about nine communities.

Idi Musa, a resident of another village, told AFP that the attackers also stole “about 2,000 animals.”

Meanwhile, local media reported that armed groups were allegedly abandoning hiding places in forested areas in response to ongoing government attacks instead of moving west to the state of Zamfara.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari pledged that the government would not give up fighting the militants.

“Rest assured that these besieged communities and other Nigerians will not be left to their own devices because this government is more determined than ever to get rid of these outlaws,” Mr Buhari said.

“The latest attack on the innocent is a desperate act of mass murderers, now under the relentless pressure of our military forces.”

On Wednesday, the Nigerian government officially labeled the bandits as terrorists, allowing security forces to impose tougher sanctions on groups and their supporters.

The Nigerian armed forces said this week that 537 “armed bandits and other criminal elements” had been killed in the region and that another 374 had been arrested since May last year.

Thousands of Nigerian soldiers have been deployed to fight armed groups, sophisticated networks of criminals operating in vast territories, often stealing animals, rescuing and killing those who confront them.