JIHADIST terrorists from Boko Haram killed dozens of people in a night time assault on a village in north eastern Nigeria, it was reported on Saturday.

The village is home to residents who had recently returned from a closed camp for internally displaced persons, residents and authorities said.

The attack on Darul Jamal in the Bama local government area took place late on Friday and killed at least 60 people, a resident of the village, Mohammed Babagana, told reporters.

Borno state Governor Babagana Zulum, who visited the attacked community late on Saturday evening, confirmed to reporters that over 60 died in the attack.

“We sympathise with the people and have pleaded with them not to abandon their homes as we have made arrangements to improve the security and provide food and other life-saving items that they have lost,” Governor Zulum said.

The chairman of Bama’s local government, Modu Gujja, said that more than a dozen houses were burnt and more than 100 people were forced to flee their homes.

Taiwo Adebayo, a researcher specialising in Boko Haram at the Institute for Security Studies, spoke to local residents of Darual Jamal and said the killings on Friday night were carried out by a faction of Boko Haram known as Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad.

Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown jihadis, took up arms in 2009 to fight Western education and impose their radical version of Islamic law.

The conflict has spilled into Nigeria’s northern neighbours, including Niger, and resulted in the death of about 35,000 civilians and the displacement of more than two million others, according to the United Nations.

Boko Haram split into two factions after the death of the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, in 2021.

One faction is backed by the Islamic State group and is known as the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). It has become notorious for targeting military positions.

The other faction, Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS), has increasingly resorted to attacking civilians and perceived collaborators and thrives on robberies and abductions for ransom.

“When JAS attacks and kills a lot of people like they did last night in Bama, it’s usually that they suspect the victims of spying for the rival ISWAP or the military,” said Mr Adebayo.

The Bama local government area was the target of several Boko Haram attacks a decade ago, forcing many residents to flee.

Following military operations in the area in recent years, authorities had resettled displaced people in several communities, most recently the village of Darul Jamal in July.