DHAKA: 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.

Source: BBC

BDST: 0903 HRS, APR 13, 2014