Authorities in the region could not be immediately reached about this latest attack. Boko Haram has stepped up attacks on farmers and loggers in recent years, accusing them of passing information about the group to the military.
Last week, the jihadists killed nine farmers and abducted 12 others in an attack on Mammanti village near Maiduguri. On November 16, the insurgents kidnapped 50 loggers near the town of Gamboru on the border with Cameroon, four days after 15 farmers were shot dead as they worked in their fields near the garrison town of Monguno, 140 kilometers from Maiduguri.
Last month the jihadists hacked 12 farmers to death in Kalle, a remote village 17 kilometers from Maiduguri. Despite the government’s insistence that Boko Haram are near defeat, the group has recently carried out major attacks on military and civilian targets, killing scores.
Security sources said at least 44 soldiers were killed in an attack in Metele village, near the border with Niger, last week, although one soldier who escaped gave a higher toll.
AFP has reported at least 17 attempts to overrun army bases since July. Many have been claimed by the IS-backed Boko Haram faction, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). More than 27,000 people have died since the start of the insurgency in the remote northeast in 2009 and 1.8 million are still homeless
