ABUJA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Police confirmed on Tuesday that 10 villagers were killed in an armed attack in northern Nigeria.
A police spokesman in the northwestern state of Zamfara told Xinhua that security has been beefed up following Saturday's attack in Dungurgu, a village in Maru local government area of the state.
"The police are aware of 10 persons killed. It was an unfortunate attack," said Muhammed Shehu, the police spokesman.
He declined to give further details but said there were also peopled wounded in the attack.
Local people said the attack early Saturday occurred when residents were attending a naming ceremony in the village.
The gunmen, who emerged from a nearby forest, stormed the village, riding on motorbikes. They shot toward the venue of the ceremony to scare away guests, said Hussaini Umar, the head chief of the village.
Umar said most of the victims were killed while trying to escape from the attack. The attackers mounted a roadblock at the village's main exit.
Last month, the Nigerian military launched a full-scale offensive against armed groups operating in Zamfara. The offensive is part of sustained efforts to flush out "banditry and criminality" in the state in particular and the northwest region in general.
The state of Zamfara, as well as neighboring Kaduna state, have witnessed a series of attacks by armed groups in recent months.
There have also been recurring incidents of livestock rustling and armed banditry in the region.
On Sunday, the Nigerian Army announced a ban on the use of motorcycles within the hinterland and forests of seven states, including Zamfara, because motorcycles have been used by "armed bandits, kidnappers, criminal elements and their collaborators as enablers to perpetrate their heinous crimes."
