Last week, militants killed at least 25 people and wounded others in attacks on two villages in Borno, a hotbed for insurgency and the centre of a more than a decade-long insurgency in Nigeria that has spilled into neighbouring Chad and Cameroon.

Abubakar Masta, a farmer who escaped, said the assailants attacked their farms in Kawuri village of Konduga local government area of Borno yesterday around 8.30am, on motorbikes, carrying rifles.

“I saw 10 corpses of my friends who were slaughtered,” Abubakar said, as security officials were recovering the bodies.

Residents said suspected Islamist group Boko Haram was behind the attack.

The Islamic State of West Africa (Iswap), a regional affiliate of the Islamic state, is also active in Borno.

The militants have been killing farmers, residents said, disrupting farming villages, which could lead to increases in food prices for a country already struggling with double-digit inflation.

A police spokesman did not immediately respond to calls to confirm the deaths of the farmers.

One resident, Alkali Mommodu, said he helped the military in its response and recovered 10 bodies.