District head Baba Abba Hassan said most victims in the Baga attack were children, women or elderly people who were not able to escape when insurgents forced their way into the town by firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles.

"The human carnage perpetrated by Boko Haram terrorists in Baga was enormous,'' Muhammad Abba Gava, a spokesman for a civilian defence group that fights Boko Haram told the Associated Press .

Boko Haram launched a military campaign in 2009 to create an Islamic state.

It has taken control of many towns and villages in north-eastern Nigeria in the last year.

The conflict has displaced at least 1.5 million people, while more than 2,000 were killed last year.

Some 10,0000 people have fled to Chad over the last week to escape the violence, raising fears of a humanitarian crisis, officials say.

Others are fleeing to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, in buses provided by the government.

President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno and two neighbouring states in 2013, vowing to defeat the militants.

However, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks since then and there are fears that many people in the north-east will not be able to vote in the forthcoming general election because of the conflict.