Suspected Boko Haram gunmen shot dead nearly 79 people in attacks on several villages in Nigeria's restive northeast in the past days.

The attacks were the latest in the six-year-old insurgency by the extremist group aimed at carving out an Islamic state in the volatile region.

The Nigerian intelligence service announced earlier the arrest of 11 people across the country's states with discovering a spy network.

The group killed and wounded thousands of innocent people since the start of its military operation in 2009.

Source: MENA