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Police officers in Kajuru in Nigeria (archive image)
Photo: CRISTINA ALDEHUELA / AFP
Heavily armed groups have been active in Nigeria for years.
They are held responsible for attacks, looting and cattle theft on a large scale.
The violence has increased significantly in recent months.
More than 200 people have now been killed in several raids in the north-west of the country.
The attacks occurred last week in Zamfara state, according to a government spokeswoman on Sunday.
"This is appalling and tragic," said a spokeswoman for the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Umar Farouq.
"We are also concerned about the displaced people who are fleeing their communities by the hundreds," the statement said.
More than 10,000 people are homeless because their houses were destroyed by the gang members, "and many are still missing".
Several eyewitnesses had previously reported the attacks to the AFP news agency.
Hundreds of armed men on motorcycles attacked ten villages in the Anka and Bukkuyum districts on Wednesday and Thursday, looting, burning down houses and shooting at residents.
"Desperate act of mass murderers"
The attackers "shot everyone they saw," said Babandi Hamidu, a resident of Kurfa Danya village.
His report largely agreed with the information provided by residents of other villages.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the attacks, describing them as an "act of desperation by mass murderers".
The government recently officially classified members of armed gangs as terrorists in order to subject them to tougher sentences.
The governor of Zamfara, Bello Matawalle, put the number of fatalities significantly lower at 58. 22 dead were reported from Anka and 36 fatalities from Bukkuyum, said a spokesman for the governor.
Meanwhile, in northwestern Kebbi state, armed gangs released 30 students and one teacher who had been detained for seven months.
According to a spokesman for the governor of Kebbi, the victims are now to be given medical care and returned to their families.
It was initially unclear whether a ransom was paid for the liberation.
fww / AFP