At least 20 people are thought to have died in clashes between security forces and members of a religious sect¹ in the northern Nigerian state of Bauchi.

尼日利亚北部包奇州安全部队与宗派成员发生冲突，至少20人丧生。

Some eyewitnesses² said as many as 37 people had been killed.

The fighting came after local people told authorities they were alarmed by open-air preaching讲道，传道 by the religious sect宗教派别, which is known as Kala Kato.

Such preaching was banned in the state after an uprising by another sect, Boko Haram, earlier this year.

Hundreds of people were killed in the subsequent后来的，随后的 fighting across northern Nigeria.

The BBC's Caroline Duffield reports from Lagos that Kala Kato is a non-conformist Muslim sect made up of poor tradesmen店主，商人, labourers and other working people.

Some residents in Zango, just south of the city of Bauchi, have said that in recent days the mood of their preaching had become aggressive.

The violence there began on Sunday morning. After some initial shooting the security forces retreated, before returning in greater numbers.

Members of the group had armed themselves with machetes大砍刀，弯刀 and cutlasses弯刀，短剑, and appeared ready to fight armed police and soldiers, she adds.

A spkesman for the Bauchi state governor said the local military had been deployed³, though other accounts spoke⁴ of a feared police unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad⁵.

The Associated Press news agency cited Bauchi state official Mohammed Maigari as saying sect members had gone on the rampage横冲直撞，暴跳如雷 to demand the release of their leader.

The sect leader had been arrested in connection with the killings⁶ of several Boko Haram博科圣地组织 members, AP reported.