MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AFP) - The death toll from an attack in northeastern Nigeria that saw insurgents dressed as soldiers set up checkpoints and gun down travellers on a highway has risen to at least 142, an official said on Sunday.

"We recovered 55 bodies on Wednesday and 87 on Thursday," Abdulaziz Kolomi, an official with the environmental protection agency in Borno state, where the attack occurred, told AFP.

The previous toll from the attack in the Benisheik area was 87.