The village was also razed, in what is believed to have been a reprisal attack, according to local reports.

No group has yet claimed the attack. The AFP news agency said that 59 bodies had been recovered, while Reuters reported that 69 people were killed.

Reuters reported that the militants suspected villagers of sharing information about their movements to security forces, while AFP said jihadist fighters had been killed by locals trying to protect livestock.

While it is unclear who carried out the attack, both the jihadist group Boko Haram and an offshoot which fights under the banner of the Islamic State group have carried out deadly attacks in the north-east of Nigeria.

Boko Haram, which sparked global outrage in 2014 when they abducted more than 270 schoolgirls in Chibok in Borno state, is also active in neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

In March, its militants ambushed and killed at least 47 Nigerian soldiers in the country’s north east, before killing almost 100 soldiers in Chad the following day.

The group’s decade-long revolt has left thousands dead and made others vacate their houses

Source__BBC