Reports said the victims, mostly men, were killed in the remote town of Kukawa, and that the death toll was expected to rise.
"We are being told that Boko Haram fighters arrived in seven cars and on nine motorcycles in the town before embarking on their attack, and that over 1,000 Nigerian soldiers were in Kanwa, about 11km away but didn't come to the rescue," sources said.
The attack on Kukawa came a day after the group attacked a village 35km away and killed another 48 men and boys.
Kukawa is 180km northeast of Maiduguri, the biggest city in northeast Nigeria and the birthplace of Boko Haram. |
The people of Kukawa were in several mosques, praying ahead of breaking their daylong fast, when the fighters attacked, the official said on Thursday.
The attack took place on Wednesday night but news of the gruesome incident only came to light on Thursday.
Officials in Kukawa said some fighters also broke into people's homes, killing women and children as they prepared the evening meal.