By Michael Chingarande
Gunmen have killed 135 civilians in north east Nigeria since Wednesday, a senior official from the region has told the BBC.
Borno state senator Ahmed Zannah said the killings took place in at least three separate attacks in the state.
The attackers are suspected to be from the Islamist Boko Haram movement.
At least 1,500 people, half of them civilian, have been killed in the restive north-eastern region this year, according to Amnesty International.
The organisation blamed both “an increase in attacks by Boko Haram and uncontrolled reprisals by Nigeria’s security forces” for the high death toll.
Senator Zannah said the attackers first target was a teacher training college in the town of Dikwa.
They killed five people there and abducted several women, he said.
The attackers burned down the college library before escaping, Mr Zannah said.
The militants then attacked two villages near the border with Cameroon killing a further 130 people, the senator said.
The attacks took place on Wednesday and Thursday, with initial reports claiming around 70 people had been killed.
The Nigerian military has not yet commented on the attacks.
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