Marauding Boko Haram gunmen ambushed four cars on Wednesday, in which 20 Nigerians were travelling, outside a village in North east Borno state.
In the ambush at Jingalta village in Nganzai district, the gunmen opened fire on the four vehicles, killing all the passengers.
The large group of Boko Haram gunmen were themselves fleeing a military offensive on their camp in the area.
“We received information of an attack by Boko Haram gunmen on four cars near Jingalta village where they shot dead all 20 occupants of the vehicles before setting the cars ablaze,” said Babakura Kolo, a member of a local vigilante group assisting the military in fighting the Islamist sect in Maiduguri.
The gunmen, who were driving pick-up trucks and motorcycles, then looted and burnt the entire village whose residents had already fled following the attack, he added.
Jibir Hassan, a commercial bus driver who arrived at the scene after the gunmen had fled, confirmed the death toll.
“When we arrived at Jingalta village, we found it smouldering, with everything completely burnt and just outside the village we saw bodies sprawled by the roadside, 20 of them in all,” Hassan told AFP.
“Near the bodies were charred remains of four cars, still smouldering,” said Hassan, who was travelling to the state capital Maiduguri from Monguno town, 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Jingalta.
Boko Haram gunmen regularly kill travellers they come across and raid villages while fleeing military offensives against their bases in the area, he said.
On Monday Boko Haram gunmen killed five travellers and injured another in nearby Mile 40 village, according to Hassan.