At least 43 farmers have been killed in a terrorist attack in Jere council area of Borno on Saturday.

The attack occurred on rice farms in Koshebe area of Zabramari village in Jere.

Local hunters involved in search operations have retrieved 43 bodies of farmers found dead, with their throats slit.

Borno police spokesperson DSP Edet Okon said the police was yet to briefed.

The state government is yet to comment on the incident.

Since September, the government began relocating residents displaced in the capital Borno to their towns of origin.

More than 2.7 million people have been displaced by Boko Haram terrorism in the region, according to a UNHCR report.

Labourers from Sokoto

It is thought the victims were labourers from Sokoto state in northwest Nigeria, roughly 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) away, who had travelled to the northeast to find work, the AFP reported, quoting Ibrahim Liman, a member of the Civilian JTF.

“There were 60 farmers who were contracted to harvest paddy in the rice fields. Forty-three were slaughtered, with six injured,” Liman said.

Eight others were missing, presumed to have been kidnapped by the jihadists, the agency reports Liman saying.

The bodies were taken to Zabarmari village, two kilometres away, where they would be kept ahead of burial on Sunday, said resident Mala Bunu who took part in the search and rescue operation.

Daily Trust