Suspected militant extremists kill at least 40 farmers in Nigeria

Suspected members of the militant group Boko Haram killed at least 40 rice farmers and fishermen while they were harvesting crops in Nigeria’s northern Borno State, officials said.

The attack was staged Saturday in a rice field in Garin Kwashebe, a Borno community known for rice farming, on the day residents of the state were casting votes for the first time in 13 years to elect local government councils, though many didn’t go to cast their ballots.

The farmers were reportedly rounded up and summarily killed by armed insurgents.

Malam Zabarmari, a leader of a rice farmers association in Borno state, confirmed the massacre to The Associated Press.

“The farmers were attacked at the Garin-Kwashebe rice field in Zabarmari community, and according to reports reaching us since afternoon, about 40 of them were killed,” he said, adding that it likely could be up to 60 people killed.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari expressed grief over the killings.“I condemn the killing of our hardworking farmers by terrorists in Borno State. The entire country is hurt by these senseless killings. My thoughts are with their families in this time of grief. May their souls Rest In Peace,” he said in a statement.