Dozens of terrorists, including leading members of two rival groups have been killed in Zamfara State, Northwest Nigeria after bloody clashes on Tuesday.
Sources said deadly clashes ensued between fighters linked to Bello Turji and another terror kingpin known simply as Dullu in the Maniya area of Shinkafi in Zamfara State.
The terrorists also rustled hundreds of animals during the attack.
Rival clashes are frequent among the terror groups terrorising communities and commuters in the Northwest and parts of the Northcentral.
Before the attack on Tuesday, Turji reportedly invited some of the terror kingpins operating near him and asked for their cooperation in carrying out the attack.
Members of Turji’s camp, however attacked his opponent while riding at least 300 motorcycles, each carrying three terrorists, a source told Human Angle.
They burnt villages in Maniya before reaching Dullu’s hideout.
Eyewitnesses said they had seen some terrorists running from their hideouts and crossing Moriki-Shinkafi Road into Sububu forest to save their lives.
“We heard Turji also abducted some men from the area. We also heard he [Dullu] died too. Dullu’s corpse and some others were at his base.
“Turji himself lost some men, but we are not sure how many. But I have seen some of them return with bullet wounds,” another source told the Daily Trust.
Another source confirmed to BBC Hausa that 16 terrorists from the Turji camp sustained injuries, and more than 30 died amongst ullu’s men.
“They (Turji’s camp) told us they killed more than 29. But, then, they said they killed many more, and they didn’t wait to count them,” the source said.
After the attack which took at least three hours, Turji moved to other towns near Birnin Yero, where he carried out attacks on Dullu’s stronghold.