In Nigeria's Plateau State, an area beset by religious and ethnic strife for several years, armed groups initiated attacks between Saturday night and Tuesday morning.
The area marks the border between the predominantly Christian south and Muslim north of Nigeria.
UN rights chief Volker Turk stated in a statement, "I am deeply alarmed by the series of attacks by gunmen on multiple rural communities in Plateau State."
In accordance with international human rights legislation, I demand that the Nigerian government launch an immediate, in-depth, and independent investigation into this occurrence and hold those responsible for it accountable in a fair trial.
"It is critically necessary to break the cycle of impunity that feeds repeated violence. Additionally, the government needs to act decisively to deal with the underlying reasons of this terrible violence and make sure it doesn't happen again.
Bandit groups who operate from camps deep in forests and raid towns to plunder and kidnap citizens for ransom have long terrorized Northwest and Central Nigeria.
Intensified by climate challenges and high population increase, the competition for natural resources between farmers and nomadic herders has also provoked violence and exacerbated social tensions.
Since 2009, a jihadist insurgency between opposing groups affiliated with the Islamic State group and Boko Haram has raged in northeastern Nigeria, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of people and the displacement of approximately two million people.
Since taking office in May, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has prioritized combating insecurity in order to attract foreign investment in the most populous nation in Africa.