The Takfiri Boko Haram terrorists have killed four people and torched homes in a nighttime raid on a village in northeastern Nigeria.

Local sources said on Sunday that Boko Haram terrorists stormed Amarwa village, which lies about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Ibrahim Liman, a leader of a local militia fighting Boko Haram, confirmed that the terrorists shot indiscriminately at villagers in the raid late Saturday.

"Two were shot dead and the other two choked to death in the fire the attackers set to houses," media outlets quoted Liman as saying.

A local chief, who did not want to be named, told AFP that the attack in Amarwa, Konduga district, started about 11 p.m. (2200 GMT) and continued past midnight.

"We have so far recovered four bodies, two of them with bullet wounds," said the local chief, adding, "We lost our homes and food stocks in the fire."

Amarwa also came under attack in May, when Boko Haram terrorists on motorbikes killed six farmers outside the village as they prepared for the planting season.

In recent weeks, a number of bomb attacks by suspected members of Boko Haram have taken place in the capital of Borno state and its environs. Mosques, markets, camps for those displaced by the conflict in Nigeria and civilians have been targeted across the region.

In December 2016, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power in 2015 with a pledge to eradicate Boko Haram, announced that the army had “crushed” the terror group by retaking its last key bastion, deep inside the thick Sambisa Forest in Borno.

The group has, however, resorted to sporadic shooting attacks and bombings in the northeast of the African country, spreading panic among local residents.

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly terrorist attacks in Nigeria since the beginning of its militancy in 2009, which has so far claimed the lives of at least 20,000 people and made more than 2.7 million people displaced.

The United Nations has warned that areas affected by the Boko Haram militancy face a humanitarian crisis.

Back in February 2016, four countries of the Lake Chad Basin, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, launched a campaign, together with a contingent from Benin, to confront the threat from Boko Haram in the region.