The death toll from an attack by jihadists linked to the Islamic State group on a village in northeast Nigeria has risen to 69, security sources and residents said Wednesday.

Fighters believed to be from the Islamic State West Africa Province faction shot and ran over residents with vehicles in the assault on the remote village of Felo on Tuesday.

The area where the latest attack took place, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Borno State capital, Maiduguri, has been repeatedly targeted by the jihadists.

In response the authorities sent more than 100 militiamen and local hunters to help defend against the assaults.

The sources told AFP that the death toll had risen from 59 after 10 more bodies were discovered in the countryside around the herding community.

“They actually killed 69 persons. More bodies were discovered scattered on the open expanse,” a senior military officer said.

A member of a government-backed anti-jihadist militia, Ibrahim Liman, gave the same overall figure.

“The bodies were strewn over a large area as the insurgents pursued their victims, shooting them and crushing them with their vehicles,” he said.

A community leader who asked not to be named said the attackers had mown down the 69 “men, and children” as they watched over their cattle at a watering hole outside the village.

“Our people were caught off guard by the gunmen who surrounded them,” the leader said.

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