A gruesome attack by Boko Haram Islamists killed 39 people in a village in the northeast, the area governor said after visiting the scene on Wednesday.

"Up to 39 people have been killed and over 70 per cent of the village has been razed to the ground," Borno state Governor Kashim Shettima told reporters in the village of Konduga, blaming the late Tuesday attack on the Islamist rebels.