The attacks occurred in Katsina State, one of the regions in northwest Nigeria plagued by armed gangs known locally as bandits who carry out mass kidnappings for ransom and looting raids on villages.

Gunmen from criminal gangs attacked four villages in northwestern Nigeria, killing 25 people in reprisals over military offensives on their hideouts, a local security official said on Friday.

The attacks occurred on Thursday in Katsina State, one of the regions in northwest Nigeria plagued by armed gangs known locally as bandits who carry out mass kidnappings for ransom and looting raids on villages.

Katsina State Internal Security Commissioner Nasiru Babangida said bandit militias stormed the villages of Unguwar Sarki, Gangara, Tafi, and Kore in Sabuwa district late on Thursday and started shooting at residents.

“Twenty-five people were killed in the attacks on the four communities, 19 of them in Unguwar Sarki village alone,” he told local radio.

Several residents were injured while others were kidnapped by the criminals, Babangida said, adding: “Most of those killed were vigilantes who came out to confront the bandits.”

The bandits raided the villages in response to ongoing military offensives against their camps in the area and in neighbouring Kaduna state where they have suffered a large number of casualties, the commissioner said.

“The attacks were in retaliation for the aerial bombings of their camps in Katsina and Kaduna states that have killed more than 200 of them,” he added.

Many communities in northwest Nigeria have formed self-defence vigilante forces to fight off bandits in remote areas with little state presence, and the two sides are locked in a spiral of tit-for-tat killings and reprisals.

The gangs who maintain camps in vast forests straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, and Niger states have made headlines for mass kidnappings of students from schools in recent years.

Bandits have no ideological leaning and are motivated by financial gains, but there has been concern from analysts and officials over their increasing alliance with jihadists waging a 15-year armed rebellion in Nigeria’s northeastern region.