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Government officials have tried peace negotiations and disarmament campaigns to try to ease the violence Armed criminals on motorcycles killed dozens of people in a string of attacks on villages in the restive northwest of Nigeria, medics and residents said. Dozens of gunmen -- described locally as "bandits -- raided five villages close to the border with Niger in Sokoto state late Wednesday, the sources told AFP. Lawal Kakale, a local traditional leader in Sabon Birni district, said the death toll had risen to 74 from an earlier figure of 60 as more bodies were recovered in the villages. "We recovered 25 corpses in Garki, 13 in Dan Aduwa, 25 in Kuzari, seven in Katuma and four in Masawa," he told AFP. "People fled in all directions and were pursued by the attackers. So, the corpses were scattered." Medics at the nearby hospital said they initially received 60 corpses with gunshot wounds in the wake of the assaults. "All the bodies had bullet wounds, most

3'   LATEST N It has been discovered that illegal abortion by quack medical practitioners particularly in the Northern zone of Bauchi State is responsible for untimely deaths of women recorded recently in the area. The disclosure was made by the Executive Chairman of Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (BASPHCDA), Dr Rilwanu Mohammed while briefing members of Bauchi State Public Health Media Network on Friday. Rilwanu Mohammed added that though the investigation has not been concluded on the development, preliminary findings have shown that the number of such deaths is about 200 saying that the number could be more at the end of the investigational On the causes of such deaths, he said that it was as a result of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies by both married and unmarried women of childbearing ages who after becoming pregnant visit quack health workers to terminate such. The BASPHCDA Chairman added that the lack of understanding of the importance of Child Birth