Takfiri Boko Haram militants have beheaded seven people in northeastern Nigeria, according to local residents and an official.

A resident named Musa Abor said on Monday that when locals woke, they discovered "seven people had been brutally killed," and added that the militants "slit their throats just the way people slaughter goats."

Abor and a Borno state official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the bodies were decapitated.

The group, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” says its goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government.

It has claimed responsibility for many deadly shooting attacks and bomb blasts in various parts of Nigeria since the beginning of its operations in 2009. Over 10,000 people have so far been killed in the attacks.

The militants are thought to be in control of more than two dozen towns and villages in the northeast.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, nearly 650,000 Nigerians have been forced from their homes by Boko Haram attacks and are displaced inside the country, while thousands more have taken refuge in neighboring countries.