Boko Haram militants murdered residents who refused to accept their extremist beliefs, the countrys leader has said

Gunmen have killed at least 191 people in separate attacks on villages in central and northern Nigeria amid an escalation of a long-running security crisis that has gripped Africa's most populous country.

The group raided the villages of Woro and Nuku in the central state of Kwara on Tuesday, killing more than 170 people after setting homes and shops on fire, according to local officials and human rights organization Amnesty International.

The attackers tied the victims' hands behind their backs and slit the throats of some, while many others were "shot at close range and some were burnt alive," Amnesty said in astatementon Wednesday. The organization said local residents were still searching for bodies.

It added that "several people were also abducted" in the attacks, which were carried out in "a stunning absence of any form of security for the protection of lives."

At least 21 people were killed in a separate incident in northern Katsina State when armed men raided the village of Doma, going house to house and shooting residents, local authorities said. The community had previously entered into a peace agreement with armed groups operating in the area.

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Nigerian President Bola Tinubucondemnedthe "cowardly and beastly" attacks, which he blamed on the jihadist group Boko Haram. He said the militants killed residents "who rejected their obnoxious attempt at indoctrination, choosing instead to practice Islam that is neither extreme nor violent."

Kaiama TV via AP

Tinubu said he has ordered an army battalion to be deployed to Kwara to lead operations against the "barbaric terrorists."

The West African country has faced persistent insecurity for years, fueled by jihadist insurgents as well as criminal gangs known locally as bandits.

Tinubu's government has been under pressure to address the crisis following threats by US President Donald Trump over Abuja's alleged failure to stop what he described as a "genocide" of Christians.

On Tuesday, the US Africa Command chief, General Dagvin R. M. Anderson, said a "small team" of American forces has been deployed to Nigeria to support efforts against Islamic State militants. On December 25, Washington carried out airstrikes against terrorist targets in Nigeria's northwest as part of what Nigerian authorities described as a new bilateral security agreement.

(RT.com)