Jihadist groups and other criminal gangs that attack villages and carry out mass kidnappings and livestock theft in the northern parts of the country have long plagued the country.
Soldiers from the regular army and local vigilantes reportedly fought around 1,000 gang members when the latter moved their base with hundreds of stolen livestock.
Since the extremist group Boko Haram began its insurgency in Nigeria in 2009, tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions have been forced to flee.
Security analysts have recently noticed increased cooperation between the various groups, which are primarily driven by economic interests, in the northeastern parts of the country.
