Boko Haram, Saturday, swooped on Kwashebe Zamarmari in the Jere local government area of Borno State, killing at least 43 people working on a farm.
The victims were harvesting rice when the terrorists unexpectedly pounced in the latest episode of insecurity across the country.
Sources told AFP that local hunters involved in search operations had retrieved 43 bodies of farmers with their throats slit.
It is thought the victims were laborers from Sokoto state in northwest Nigeria, roughly 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away, who had traveled 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 kilometers away, where they would be kept ahead of burial on Sunday, said resident Mala Bunu who took part in the search and rescue operation.
Last month, Boko Haram militants slaughtered 22 farmers working in their irrigation fields near Maiduguri in two separate incidents.
Boko Haram and ISWAP, its IS-linked rival, have increasingly targeted loggers, herders, and fishermen in their violent campaign, accusing them of spying and passing information to the military and the local militia fighting them.
At least 36,000 people have been killed in the jihadist conflict, which has displaced around 2 million people since 2009.
The violence has also spread into neighboring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the militants.
The attack took place as voters went to the polls in local elections in Borno State.
The elections had been repeatedly postponed because of an increase in attacks by Boko Haram and ISWAP.
