The series of attacks by armed bandits has taken place in the last 48 hours, with 18 people killed each in the villages of the states of Kaduna and Katsina and several others injured. The attackers set fire to houses, displacing residents.
Hundreds of people were killed in northern Nigeria by gangs of criminals who carried out thefts and kidnappings.
These attacks heightened security challenges in Nigeria, which is struggling to contain Islamic insurgencies in the northeast and community violence against grazing rights in central states.
The latest attack came less than a month after President Muhammadu Buhari replaced his longtime military chiefs amid worsening violence, with the armed forces struggling to recover other northeastern cities overrun by insurgents.