At least 17 herders were killed when rampaging Boko Haram jihadists attacked Airamne village in Mafa district in the beleaguered northeastern Nigerian state of Borno.
The jihadists also stole cattle during the attack on the herders who were guarding their cattle in a pasture on Saturday.
“Seventeen herders were killed in the fight and all their cattle taken away,” militia leader Babakura Kolo told AFP on Monday .
“The herders put (up) resistance but were outgunned and outnumbered by the attackers, who had better weapons,” said Kolo.
Another militiaman, Ibrahim Liman, gave the same toll.
He said the jihadists launched the attack from camps in nearby Gajiganna forest, where they relocated after being partially forced out from their stronghold in Sambisa forest by jihadist rivals ISWAP and the Nigerian army.
ISWAP — Islamic State West Africa Province — split from Boko Haram in 2016 and rose to become the dominant group in the region’s long-running jihadist turmoil.
It seized swathes of territory under Boko Haram control after leader Abubakar Shekau was killed in clashes with ISWAP in May last year.
Boko Haram and ISWAP have increasingly been targeting civilians, particularly loggers, farmers and herders, accusing them of spying on them for the military and the local anti-jihadist militia.
But herders who pay a levy to the jihadists are usually allowed to let their cattle graze safely in territory under militant control.