Boko Haram kill 86 in northern Nigeria

Boko Haram militants burn children alive in village attack.

At least 86 people were killed in a series of gun and bomb attacks in the village of Dalori in Nigeria's north-eastern state Borno on the evening of 30 January.

Boko Haram militants are believed to be responsible for the attacks, which reportedly lasted nearly four hours, shooting civilians indiscriminantly and burning children alive in their huts.

Initially unprepared to combat the heavily-armed attackers, the Nigerian army only managed to force the rebels into retreat after reinforcement troops arrived. Militants also tried to storm two nearby refugee camps, housing 25,000 people, but were held off by the army.

There are also reports of three female suicide bombers intercepting fleeing Dalori residents to neighbouring village Gamori where they killed a significant but still unknown amount of people, a Nigerian soldier told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The fires in Dalori were seen 5km away in Maiduguri, the largest city in the north-eastern region, the birthplace of Boko Haram and the military centre of the war against the terrorism formation.

The attack will be seen as a blow to Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari who in December declared that the nation's war with Boko Haram had largely been won. Since his inauguration as president last May, Buhari has taken a stong line against the militants, reorganising Nigeria's military and carrying out successful rescue missions of Boko Haram captives.

Since 2009 Boko Haram has been responsible for killing some 20,000 people and displacing over two million in its quest to carve out an Islamist state in northern Nigeria.