At least 87 people were killed on Tuesday, September 19 in an attack by Boko Haram militants in the Nigerian state of Borno, Global Post said.

"Eighty-seven bodies were recovered in the bush and our people are still searching for more," said Saidu Yakubu of the Environmental Protection Agency in northeastern Borno.

The attackers disguised themselves in military uniforms and set up checkpoints outside of the town of Benisheik in order to shoot those trying to flee, witnesses told Agence France-Presse.

They reportedly used "anti-aircraft guns" to shoot at locals from the 20 pickup trucks they used to drive into the town. Once there, they burnt down scores of homes and buildings.

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Borno state governor Kashim Shettima visited Benisheik on Thursday, calling the killings "barbaric and un-Islamic" and promising financial assistance for relatives of the victims, according to the BBC.

Communication with Borno has been disrupted since the middle of May, when the state's phone network went down. At the time, Nigeria declared a state of emergency across most of the country's northeast, as it attempted to put a stop to Boko Haram's four-year insurgency with a military offensive.

Benisheik was also the scene of clashes earlier this month, when five militants and 13 members of local vigilante groups were killed.