At least 65 people died in an attack by suspected Islamists on a group returning from a funeral in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno region, state television said on Sunday.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in recent years, but the Boko Haram group and rival Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) splinter group have often carried out attacks in the area.
Local government chairman Mohammed Bulama was quoted as saying on television that the assailants killed 21 people returning from the funeral in a village in Nganzai local government area on Saturday and another 44 people when they tried to regroup to defend themselves, Reuters reports.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday ordered the military to hunt down the perpetrators. Borno state is the epicentre of the Boko Haram and ISWA insurgency. A week ago, some communities confronted Boko Haram insurgents and reportedly killed 11 of them.