Dozens of Boko Haram militants have been killed by local hunters of Maiha Government area, Adamawa State.

The hunters ambushed and killed the militants following months of violence which claimed thousands of lives in Adamawa, one of the three states that mostly bears the brunt of Boko Haram's violent insurgence.

Who are Boko Haram? Boko Haram, which fights against Western influence in Nigeria and aims to impose its version of sharia law in the country, declared an Islamic caliphate in Gwoza, along the Cameroon border, in August 2014. The group has been raiding several cities in the north of the country in a bid to take control of more land. Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states, where the militants usually carry out their attacks, have been under a state of emergency since May 2013. Violence linked to Boko Haram's insurgency has resulted in an estimated 10,000 deaths between 2002 and 2013. Why advertise with us

"The hunters mobilised and gave the insurgents hot chase during which many Boko Haram sect members were killed," Bello Ya'u, a resident of Maiha, told local newspaper Premium Times.

''We commend them for the gallant fight."

A local hunter said: "We had to wake up and fight the bastards that keep plaguing our societies killing innocents souls.

"People should brace up and start fighting them, we killed many of them. We are not afraid of being killed," he added.

Following the attack, some residents of Maiha now fear reprisal attacks and are moving in droves to the capital of Adamawa, Yola.

The insurgents have taken over many towns and villages in Adamawa State, including Madagali, Michika, Mubi North and South.

The news of the killing came as Boko Haram has intensified its attacks across northern and central Nigeria.

On Wednesday (12 November) a female suicide bomber killed at least 10 students after she detonated a bomb in a college in Kontagora, in Nigeria's central Niger State.

Although no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, it is believed that it might have been carried out by Boko Haram.

Just days before this, a suspected Boko Haram suicide bomber disguised in school uniform detonated a blast in the middle of a school assembly in the north-east Nigerian town of Potiskum, killing 48 students and wounding 79 people.

The militants earned global attention after they kidnapped some 220 girls in Chibok, Borno State, last April. Weeks after the mass abduction, reports alleged that the girls were being used by the militants to carry out suicide attacks.

In November, Boko Haram carried out another suicide bomb attack in Potiskum, supposedly targeting Shia Muslims celebrating Ashura, killing at least 32 people.

The group's fresh attacks came weeks after the Nigerian government announced it had reached a ceasefire with the terror group.

Critics cast doubts over the ceasefire, as Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau did not release any official statement regarding the truce.