Kano , Nigeria ( CNN ) Boko Haram insurgents killed scores of people Wednesday on the Nigerian-Cameroonian border , slitting throats and shooting victims , residents said . The attackers moved door-to-door slaughtering people in the predawn raid on the town of Fotokol , according to witnesses , and opened fire on at least three mosques , including the central mosque , as worshipers said their morning prayers . They burned the central mosque after killing worshipers , including the imam . The gunmen also moved along the streets shooting people heading to the mosque , residents said . Several homes and vehicles were set ablaze in the attack , which started around 5:30 a.m . Troops engaged the militants in a gun battle that lasted until 9 a.m. before the gunmen retreated . A Chadian fighter jet pursued the fleeing attackers into the bush and dropped bombs on them , residents said . Troop reinforcements arrived in the town and moved into the bush in search of gunmen who survived the aerial bombing . The gunmen are believe to be Boko Haram fighters who were pushed out of Gamboru-Ngala , Nigeria , in a ground offensive by Chadian and Cameroonian troops , along with fighters from other Boko Haram camps in northeast Nigeria . The Nigerian-based radical Islamist group has been staging cross-border raids on Cameroon , including an attack on the villages of Mabass and Makxy on January 18 in which they kidnapped 80 people . Chad 's parliament had voted , only two days before the kidnappings , to send troops to Cameroon and Nigeria to join in the fight against Boko Haram .
Attackers went door - to - door in the slaughter , say residents of Fotokol . Boko Haram militants also opened fire on mosques , and killed Imam and imam in the central mosque .