The incident, which happened on Monday, is the latest in a spate of violence in the region blamed on jihadist groups, which have escalated attacks in recent weeks.
More than 50 people were killed last week.
Fighters from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) stormed Kwaple village, near the town of Chibok, on several motorcycles, opening fire on residents who had gathered to mourn the death of a community leader in the village, the sources said.
“As at this morning, 15 bodies have been recovered in the village and surrounding bushes,” said Ayuba Alamson, a community leader in Chibok, about five kilometres (about three miles) away.
“The ISWAP insurgents opened fire on the mourners and pursued them on motorcycles into the bush as they tried to flee,” Alamson said.
ISWAP, which split from Boko Haram in 2016, seized Sambisa Forest in 2021 and has continued to raid villages on the fringes of the forest.
Another Chibok resident, Samson Bitrus, told AFP that the toll may rise as many residents were still missing.
Chibok came to global attention in 2014 following the mass abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from their boarding school by Boko Haram jihadists.
Although troops have been stationed in Chibok since the schoolgirls’ kidnapping, deadly Boko Haram raids have persisted in the area, with the group launching attacks from their nearby Sambisa Forest enclave.
On Thursday, Boko Haram killed 14 farmers in the Gwoza district near the border with Cameroon, according to a local official.
Borno state governor Babagana Umara Zulum last week told military chiefs that Boko Haram and its rival ISWAP were regrouping around Lake Chad islands, Sambisa Forest and Mandara mountains on the border with Cameroon as a result of “military setbacks”.
The 16-year conflict has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes in the northeast, according to the United Nations.
The violence has spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight the jihadist groups.
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© Agence France-Presse
