Jihadist fighters have killed at least 5 worshippers and wounded three others in a reprisal attack on a mosque in northwestern Nigeria's Kebbi state late Wednesday, according to state-owned News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Members of the Lakurawa group opened fire on the mosque in Dadin Kowa village in Maiyama local government on when worshippers were observing evening prayers.
A security report seen by AFP said 10 worshippers were killed in the raid.
The police spokesman in Kebbi Bashir Usman did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comments. But he told NAN that the attacks came after Lakurawa fighters were killed in a "failed ambush" on a military convoy.
"The attack was a reprisal by suspected Lakurawa terrorist elements following a failed ambush on troops of the Nigerian Army attached to the 8 Division," Usman said.
The Lakurawa group has been blamed for many of the attacks on communities in the northern part of the state and in neighbouring Sokoto state.
Its members stage raids from their forest base, rustling livestock and imposing "taxes" on locals.
The security report said the attacks in Maiyama local government "emphasizes the group's intent to expand towards the east of Kebbi before military operatives can assert intensified counterterror efforts in this region."
Nigeria's government said the Christmas day air strikes by the US military in Sokoto had targeted members of the group and "bandit" gangs.
Some researchers have linked the group to the Islamic State Sahel Province militant group, which is active mainly in neighbouring Niger and Mali, though others remain doubtful