Suspected members of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram killed at least 40 rice farmers and fishermen while they were harvesting crops in Nigeria´s northern Borno State, officials said. The attack was staged Saturday in a rice field in Garin Kwashebe, a Borno community known for rice farming, on the day residents of the state were casting votes for the first time in 13 years to elect local government councils, though many didn´t go to cast their ballots. The farmers were reportedly rounded up and summarily killed by armed insurgents. Malam Zabarmari, a leader of a rice farmers association in Borno state, confirmed the massacre to The Associated Press. “The farmers were attacked at the Garin-Kwashebe rice field in Zabarmari community, and according to reports reaching us since afternoon, about 40 of them were killed,” he said, adding that the death toll likely could be up to 60 killed. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari expressed grief over the killings.