10 die in Nigeria weekend attack

ABUJA, July 15 (Xinhua): Ten bodies were recovered from a village where gunmen wreaked havoc in Nigeria's northwestern state of Katsina at the weekend, according to local police on Monday.

The gunmen who stormed the Kirtawa village in Safana local government area of Katsina wounded five others, including a soldier man and one paramilitary personnel, during the attack late Saturday, said Gambo Isah, a spokesperson for the state police.

The attackers had laid an ambush for the security agents on a mission to rescue the villagers.

Isah told Xinhua that during the attack, the gunmen also burned five vehicles and four motorcycles belonging to villagers.

The dead victims were found by security agents who had gone to the village for a rescue operation, the police spokesman said.

Up to 300 gunmen riding on motorbikes stormed the village to wreak the havoc, he said. Locals had also complained that the attackers rustled an unspecified number of cattle before escaping through a nearby bush.