Sharjah 24 – AFP: Gunmen killed 32 people and razed dozens of houses in the latest attacks in Nigeria's volatile northwestern state of Kaduna, local authorities said Thursday.

Heavily-armed criminal gangs known as bandits in northwest and central Nigeria have raided villages to kidnap or kill residents for years but have become increasingly brazen.

The gunmen attacked the first two locations and killed 31 citizens. "They then headed into Ungwan Maikori, where they killed one person and burnt some houses," said the state security commissioner Samuel Aruwan said in a statement.

Security forces dispatched a helicopter which engaged the bandits before the arrival of ground troops, he added.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a former army general, has been under pressure to end the deadly violence before he leaves office next year at the end of his two terms in power.