Villagers in an area of Nigeria where Boko Haram operates have killed and detained scores of the Islamic militants who were suspected of planning a fresh attack, residents and a security official said.

Suspected Islamic extremists attacked an agricultural college in the dead of night, gunning down dozens of students as they slept in dormitories and torching classrooms in an ongoing Islamic uprising in north-east Nigeria, the school’s provost said.

Militants said today that the Nigerian military botched a rescue mission aimed at liberating two British hostages held captive in Nigeria’s restive southern oil region.