MAIDUGURI: Boko Haram fighters have killed 15 villagers near Maiduguri, the city which is the epicenter of the militant group’s six-year insurgency and where President Goodluck Jonathan is to launch his re-election campaign Saturday.

The killings near the embattled city took place Friday, eve of the president’s visit, security sources and residents said.

“The terrorists attacked Kambari village which is less than five kilometers to Maiduguri around 5:00 a.m. They killed 15 people and set the entire hamlet ablaze,” said a security source who requested anonymity.

“After fruitless efforts to enter Maiduguri through Konduga without success, the terrorists took a different route and attacked Kambari,” he said.

A woman from the village who simply gave her name as Kyallu said four of her children were among the dead.

“They killed four of my grown-up children when they attacked our village about the time for the morning prayers,” Kyallu, who is now in Maiduguri, told AFP.

“They shot my children dead without any prompting. I had to leave the village with my grandchildren because we have lost our houses,” she said. “The insurgents also killed our village head. In fact, I counted 15 dead bodies,” she said.

Maiduguri and its environs in the volatile northeast have been repeatedly attacked by the rebels who began their deadly insurgency to impose Sharia in the mainly-Muslim north in 2009.

The latest attack came as Jonathan was due to launch his re-election campaign for the Feb. 14 polls at a rally in Maiduguri. Security was beefed up ahead of the event with hundreds of armed police and sniffer dogs deployed at strategic areas.