Eighteen people were killed and 100 homes torched in an attack in the dead of night by Nigeria's Boko Haram fighters on a village near southeastern Bosso, local authorities told AFP on Thursday.

"The toll is 18 dead, 11 hurt, almost 100 homes burned down" in the village of Wogom late Wednesday, the mayor of Bosso, Bako Mamadou, told AFP.

A humanitarian worker said the Islamists came from Nigeria and crossed the Komadougou Yobe river, the border between Niger and Nigeria.