"So far, we have 45 dead and 26 injured... but the figures could increase as our men are still in the village searching for more casualties," Borno state police commissioner Lawan Tanko told AFP.

Witnesses to the attack in Kawuri, in the Konduga area of Borno state, 37 kilometres (23 miles) southeast of Maiduguri, earlier said that 15 people had been killed and 20 others wounded.

One witness, Isa Ibrahim, said gunmen stormed the town on four-wheel-drive vehicles, pretending to be traders who had come to do business in the market.

"Unknown to the people, the gunmen had planted improvised explosive devices at strategic areas in the town before carrying out the attack on residents," he added.

Several houses and vehicles were set on fire before the gunmen fled, he said.

NJF/NJF