According to local officials and a witness militant Boko Haram group killed 32 people and abducted scores of others in an attack on the village of Gumsuri in Borno State.
Two Borno state officials who confirmed the attack said the locals were still counting those kidnapped in the attack Sunday, December 14, in the distant area but that the number could pass 100 and comprised women and children.
At least 33 killed in village near Damboa in north-east Nigeria. Dozens of young men, women and children abducted. Happened Sunday
— will ross (@willintune) December 18, 2014
Local resident, Mukhtar Buba, who fled Gumsuri to the Borno state capital Maiduguri said: "After killing our youths, the insurgents have taken away our wives and daughters."
Information took four days to appear because the mobile phone network has largely crashed in the area approximately 70 kilometres (43 miles) south of Maiduguri, and many of the roads are blocked.
The village, raided by insurgents, is situated on the road that leads to Chibok, where Boko Haram abducted more than 200 girls from a school in April 14, 2014.
One of the local officials said Gumsuri had earlier been protected against Boko Haram violence by a strong vigilante force, but that they were overcame in Sunday's attack.
"For the past one year, the insurgents have made several attempts to attack Gumsuri but were resisted by the gallant youths of the village," he told AFP.
"It is sad that on Sunday, the village was subdued," he continued.
The other official said the terrorists "stormed the village in a convoy of vehicles (armed) with petrol bombsand heavy weapons".
Buba, the villager, said more than half the village had been destroyed.
"The terrorists mercilessly attacked us and killed at will," he said.
Borno is the focal point of Boko Haram's five-year uprising aimed at producing a severe Islamic state in northern Nigeria.
Attacks alike to Sunday's raid in Gumsuri have intensified over the last 18 months, with the insurgents taking control of more than two dozen towns and villages in the region.
No fewer than 1.5 million people have left their homes and fears are rising that persistent unrest will prevent voters in the region from participating in general elections scheduled for February 14.
