Over 300 gunmen attacked the residents and looted homes and shops, including stealing foodstuffs and money, local sources reported.

“More than 300 bandits armed with sophisticated weapons, including GMP machine guns and anti-aircraft launchers, stormed the village at 20:45 p.m. on Saturday. They ransacked houses and looted shops. They also killed 20 people and injured six others. The joint team of the police and the military advanced to the village, but the bandits had retreated to the forest by the time they arrived,” said SP Gambo Isah, a spokesman for the state police command.

“The team is still combing the forest with a view to finding the hoodlums,” he added.

Violence in the Lake Chad Basin has uprooted 3.3 million people, including over 300,000 Nigerian refugees and some 2.2 million displaced within north-east Nigeria, especially in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe States.