Soldiers from Niger and Chad have discovered the bodies of at least 70 people, many of them beheaded, dumped near a bridge outside the northern Nigerian town of Damasak liberated from Boko Haram on Saturday, a Reuters witness said.

The skeletal bodies were partially mummified by the dry desert atmosphere, the witness said, suggesting that the killing had taken place some time ago. Damasak was seized by the Islamist group in November but recaptured by troops from Niger and Chad on Saturday.