Boko Haram has reportedly killed six men in a village in northeast Nigeria on Tuesday.

Nine Boko Haram fighters are suspected of entering Kijimatari, a village in northeast Borno state, at around 2 am (0100 GMT), breaking into the homes of six men including the village chief before slitting their throats.

“The attackers evaded a nearby military checkpoint by entering the village through bush paths,” said Ibrahim Liman, the head of a local anti-jihadist militia force.

“The chief of the village was among the victims and it was clear the victims were deliberately targeted.”

Local resident Kulo Musa said that while the attackers had carried guns but they “chose to use knives” to avoid alerting soldiers manning a nearby checkpoint.

Musa said the killings were a reprisal for the arrest of two Boko Haram members who moved into the village claiming to have been displaced from their homes by the jihadists two months earlier.

“We believe the attackers suspected the six people they killed of tipping off the military which led to the arrest of the two Boko Haram fighters,” he said.