Fighters from Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) opened fire on a group of farmers and children riding in an open van and a motorised rickshaw outside Gurnowa, a village near the garrison town of Monguno yesterday, the militias said.

Separately, a woman farmer and her three children fleeing the area died when their wooden cart hit a landmine planted by the extremists near the attack scene before they withdrew, the militia said.

“Our men have evacuated 11 bodies to Monguno while another team has left to bring the woman and her three children,” said Babakura Kolo, an anti-extremist militia leader assisting the military in fighting the jihadists in the region.

The 11 were returning to Monguno after working on their farms when they were attacked by the extremists, said Ibrahim Liman, another member of the militia who gave the same toll.

The insurgents made off with the van and the rickshaw of the slain farmers, the two militia said.

“The woman and her three children had abandoned their farm in hearing gunshots and were heading back to Monguno when the cart they were pushing rolled over an explosive buried by the terrorists, killing them all,” Liman said.

From the images of the 11 victims seen by an AFP reporter, most were shot in the head, including two females and two children.

Gurnowa, 5km from the military fortified town of Monguno, has been deserted for years following extremist attacks, with its inhabitants forced to seek shelter in makeshift camps in Monguno.

Monguno, 140km north of the regional capital Maiduguri, houses tens of thousands of internally displaced people, who fled their homes to escape the violence and live in sprawling camps under military protection.

The United Nations says more than a million people will face hunger in northeastern Nigeria amid resurgent extremist attacks, huge cuts in foreign aid and a spiralling cost of living.

The 16-year conflict has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced more than two million from their homes, according to the UN.