Death toll of Nigerian farmers massacred in northeastern region rises to 110

The United Nations said on Sunday that the number of farmers killed in Saturday's attack in Koshobe village has risen from 43 to 110.

Men carry the bodies of people killed in the attack during a mass burial in Zabarmari [Ahmed Kingimi/Reuters]

The farmers are believed to have been killed by Nigerian militant group Boko Haram, a terrorist organization with links to ISIS.

“Armed men on motorcycles led a brutal attack on civilian men and women who were harvesting their fields,” Edward Kallon, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, said in a statement on Sunday.

In addition to the killings, the UN believes that several women were kidnapped.

Many of the deceased farmers were found with slit throats and some completely beheaded. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but Nigerian authorities say Boko Haram or the Islamic State in West Africa Province(ISWAP) are the prime suspects of the "gruesome massacre."

“The incident is the most violent direct attack against innocent civilians this year. I call for the perpetrators of this heinous and senseless act to be brought to justice,” Kallon said.

Both groups are known to have a stronghold in northeastern Nigeria. In the past 10 years alone, over ten thousand civilians in northeastern Nigeria have died at the hands of Boko Haram militants.

“I condemn the killing of our hard-working farmers by terrorists in Borno state. The entire country is hurt by these senseless killings,” Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said via his spokesman.

In total, both Boko Haram and ISWAP have killed 30,000 people across Nigeria, in the past decade, and forced over two million people to flee their homes for neighboring Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. So there's a sense of frustration among the Nigerian population on the government's "inability" to safeguard its citizens and drive away militant groups.

The government continues to maintain that the situation is under control and that an investigation to not only find the perpetrators for the latest attack but to also bring them to justice, is underway.

By: Niza Nondo