12 farmers killed in suspected Boko Haram attack in Nigeria

Twelve bodies have been recovered in a remote village in Borno State, northeast Nigeria, following an attack early Saturday by suspected Boko Haram fighters, according to the head of a local vigilante group.

The 12 bodies recovered so far had deep machete cuts, said Kolo Babakura, a leader of the Civilian Joint Task Force.

Kolo said the victims were busy working on their farms when the attackers stormed the village of Kalle on two trucks and chased the farmers, who immediately fled the scene, into a nearby bush.

Babakura said more bodies are likely to be recovered as the search for missing persons continues in the village.

The Nigerian army also confirmed the incident in a statement on Saturday. The army, however, said only two bodies have been recovered so far.

It also said there was no abduction during the attack as claimed by some local sources.

A security source told Xinhua that recovered bodies of the victims had been assembled for mass burial.

Boko Haram has been trying since 2009 to establish an Islamist state in northeastern Nigeria, killing some 20,000 people and displacing millions of others.

The group posed enormous security, humanitarian and governance challenges in the Lake Chad basin, according to the United Nations.

Four countries caught up in the insurgency are Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria. The United Nations said Boko Haram has displaced nearly 2.4 million people in the Lake Chad region.