Gunmen kill at least 30 in northwest Nigeria raid: police

Gunmen on motorbikes killed at least 30 people across two villages during a raid in northwest Nigeria, local police said.

In a statement reaching Xinhua in Abuja on Sunday, the police in the northwestern state of Katsina said the gunmen raided Tsauwa and Dankar villages in Batsari local government area of the state on Friday night.

The gunmen raided the two villages with their motorbikes and shot at residents, said Gambo Isah, spokesman for the police in that state, adding that the majority of the victims were the aged and children who could not run for their lives.

Some 21 people were killed in Tsauwa village where houses were burned down and foodstuffs were also taken away. The gunmen went on to kill nine more in Dankar village, Isah said further.

The police, working in collaboration with the military, have arrested one suspect and recovered nine motorbikes belonging to the gunmen and used during the raid, according to the police's mouthpiece.

Additional policemen and military personnel have been deployed to protect the area and neighboring communities, said Sanusi Buba, Katsina's police chief, after visiting the affected villages on Saturday.

Buba added that the security operatives were on the trail of the assailants and combing nearby bushes for them.