Gunmen attacked a mosque in the northern Nigerian town of Unguwan Mantau in Katsina state on Tuesday morning, killing at least 30 people during prayers, local authorities said.

The attack came days after both town residents and the Nigerian military were reported to have targeted armed group members. The Reuters news agency reported that at least 30 worshippers had been killed in the mosque attack and 60 others kidnapped. Some 20 others were killed in nearby villages.

What happened in Katsina's Unguwan Mantau?

State commissioner Nasir Mu'azu said the gunmen struck while residents gathered for morning prayers.

He said soldiers and police had since been deployed to prevent further attacks.

Mu'azu said the mosque attack was likely in retaliation after Unguwan Mantau townspeople ambushed and killed several of the gunmen in the area over the weekend.

He added that gunmen often hide among the crops in farms during the rainy season to carry out assaults on communities.

A report prepared for the UN and seen by the AFP news agency described the assailants as "armed bandits." It suggested the attack may have been retaliatory after Nigerian army troops repelled an attempted bandit attack nearby.

Nigerian authorities have at times turned to peace deals with armed groups when security forces could not defeat them militarily, including in Katsina state.

But officials in Malumfashi, the local government area where the mosque killings took place, had not entered into any truce agreement.

Witnesses reported that panic spread quickly through the farming community after the attack.

Why are these attacks happening?

For years, gangs known locally as bandits have targeted rural areas in northwestern and central Nigeria.

They raid villages, kidnap residents for ransom and burn homes after looting them.

The violence began as disputes over land and water between farmers and herders but has morphed into organized crime.

Cattle rustling, kidnappings and so-called taxes on farming communities now provide steady revenue to armed groups.

The insecurity is worsened by the limited presence of state institutions in mineral-rich but impoverished regions.

Edited by: Rana Taha