Boko Haram has reportedly killed 43 farmers in a deadly attack on rice fields in Koshebe area of Zabramari village in Jere, Borno State on Saturday.
Sources said local hunters involved in search operations had retrieved 43 bodies of farmers with their throats slit.
Both police and the state government are yet to comment on the incident.
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.