56 people have been killed during a Boko Haram attack when insurgents invaded Baanu village in Borno state, Nigeria.

Governor Kashim Shettima confirmed the attack in a meeting with the parents of the girls abducted from their school in Chibok last year.

“I want us all to understand that the Boko Haram crisis is a calamity that has befallen us, as the insurgents do not discriminate whether somebody is Christian or Muslim, neither do they have any tribal sympathy or affiliations,” Shettima said.

“Just yesterday they killed 56 people in Baanu village of Nganzai local government.”

Vanguard reported that a resident of the area, Yuram Musa, fled to Maiduguri in order to avoid the attack. He stated that the militants came on horses at about 8:30 local time, shooting and killing everyone in view.

“We had to flee into the bush and hide and after they left, we return back to pick some of our belongings. I counted 68 corpses, some were slaughtered, while others were with gunshot wounds. The number of those killed is worrisome as corpses littered the streets of the village,” Yuram Musa said.

“Government should do something, otherwise, these Boko Haram members will continue to kill innocent citizens. Every surrounded villages, which is five kilometres away from Gajiram, the headquarters of Nganzai, had been taken over by the insurgents, as most of them are residing around the area,’’ he added.

CTV News reported that a fleeing resident of the village, Mustapha Alibe, returned back to the village the next day, “after spending the night in the bush, we saw corpses in the streets of the village.”