At least 65 people are dead following a suspected attack by Boko Haram at a funeral gathering in north-eastern Nigeria.
According to Local Government Chairman Muhammed Bulama, the attack occurred Saturday during a burial in the Nganzai district, near the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.
Mr. Bulama added Twenty-one (21) people were initially killed during the burial ceremony and forty-four were killed when villagers ran after the assailants.
Reports gathered suggest at least ten (10) people were injured in the attack with eight (8) of them in critical condition at an area hospital.
Boko Haram militants have inhabited the northern states on Nigeria for the past decade.
The terror group in a communique says its aim is to impose a stricter enforcement of Sharia law across Africa’s most populous nation, which is split between a majority Muslim north and a mostly Christian south.
The group has bombed churches and mosques; kidnapped women and children and assassinated politicians and religious leaders.
In January, the escalating violence forced 30,000 Nigerians to flee the country over a two-day period, the UN refugee agency has said.