Attackers from neighbouring Niger and Zamfara states killed 88 people in Nigeria's Kebbi state on Thursday, spurring its governor to pledge a bigger deployment of security forces yesterday as insecurity spreads largely unchecked through the country's northwest. Perpetrators swept through eight villages, killing people and sending residents fleeing, police said. Gunmen have ramped up attacks on the region's communities in recent years, forcing thousands to flee across Nigeria's northern border to Niger.