The gunmen who stormed the village in large numbers also burnt down virtually all buildings in the village as well as three pickup vans carrying woods to Damboa.
A member of the vigilante in Dalwa-Masuba, who spoke to journalists in Maiduguri on phone, said no security personnel had reached the attacked town at the time he was speaking.
“We were on patrol somewhere near Damboa when we heard about the attack from some of the villagers who ran from the village”, said the source. “We had to drive to the town on our patrol van; we met the entire village on fire, and about 40 persons dead, there were bodies all over the place; three firewood pickups were also set ablaze.”
The police and the military in Borno are yet to formally confirm the attack, although security sources in Maiduguri, the state capital, said they had been briefed of the attack.
Dalwa-Masuba is a farming community 40km away from Damboa Town and about 80km south-west of Maiduguri.
The attack follows similar patterns of attacks on communities in Borno by the Boko Haram.
The group has continued its attacks and killed thousands of people despite a state of emergency imposed on Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa in May last year.
The atrocities of the group, including its kidnap of over 250 teenage, female students in Chibok, Borno State, on April 14, has drawn international attention and condemnation.
At a security summit in the French capital, Paris, Saturday, attended by President Goodluck Jonathan, the leaders of Chad, Niger, Benin, and Cameroun, agreed to share intelligence, and co-ordinate action against the group which is based in northeast Nigeria, but has operated somewhat freely in northwest Cameroun, parts of Chad and Niger.
A central intelligence platform will be based in Chad, the summit agreed, and will allow all countries involved, including the world powers, to stage a response as necessary.
Representatives of the United States, United Kingdom, France, and the European Union, also attended the Saturday’s meeting.