Bomb: At least 48
teenagers died, and 79 were injured, after a suicide bomber dressed in
school uniform detonated during morning assembly in an act of terrorism
blamed on Boko Haram (pictured)
A terrorist attack on an all-boys school in northen Nigeria killed 48 students and injured 79 after a suicide bomber detonated during morning assembly.
The
perpetrator was dressed in a school uniform, and entered the schoolyard
in Potiskum, Yobe state, on Monday morning before carrying out the
attack among the students.
Local police believe Boko Haram is responsible for the attack on the secondary school, which follows a 'western curriculum'.
The
massacre came just a day after the release of a new Boko Haram video in
which the group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, again rejected Nigerian
government claims of a ceasefire and peace talks.
Students
at the Government Comprehensive Senior Science Secondary School in
Potiskum were waiting to hear the principal's daily address when the
explosion happened, just before 8am.
'There
was an explosion detonated by a suicide bomber,' national police
spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu said, adding that Boko Haram was believed
responsible.
'So far, the number of the dead is 48, while 79 are injured.
I counted the bodies, mostly students and a few teachers,' a
nurse at Potiskum General Hospital said.
'A teacher who survived the blast with minor injury said the
bomber dressed like a student and was also on the assembly
ground with the students,' she said, asking to remain anonymous.
The massacre came
just a day after the release of a new Boko Haram video in which the
group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, pictured, again rejected Nigerian
government claims of a ceasefire and peace talks
Adamu
Alkassim said the scene was a mass of abandoned footwear, blood and
flesh, as the victims were taken to the Potiskum General Hospital, just
330ft away.
Mariam Ibrahim, a teacher at the Government Comprehensive Senior Science Secondary School said the bomb went
off as she was arriving and students were at morning assembly.
Potiskum resident Aliyu Abubakar said he heard the explosion
when he was dropping off his two sons at a nearby Islamic
college. 'One of my sons fell down, I came out dragged him in
and we drove off back home,' he said.
A second teacher, asking to remain anonymous, said, 'There
are some (others) that are critically injured and I am sure the
death toll will rise.'
One rescue worker involved in evacuating the students from the school said the wounded had 'various degrees of injuries'.
The victims are thought to be in their teens.
Boko
Haram, which wants to create a hardline Islamic state in northern
Nigeria, has previously carried out deadly attacks on schools teaching a
so-called Western curriculum since 2009.
In
February, gunmen killed at least 40 students after throwing explosives
into the dormitory of a government boarding school in Buni Yadi, also in
Yobe state.
In
July last year 42 students were killed when Boko Haram stormed
dormitories in a gun and bomb attack on a government boarding school in
the village of Mamudo, near Potiskum.
The blast took place at Government Comprehensive Senior Science Secondary School in Potiskum, Yobe
Boko
Haram's most high-profile attack on a school came in April, when
fighters kidnapped 276 girls from the town of Chibok in Borno state,
also in northeast Nigeria.
More than six months later, 219 of the girls are still being held.
Potiskum, the commercial hub of Yobe state, has been repeatedly targeted by deadly attacks blamed on Boko Haram.
Last Monday, at least 15 people were killed in a suicide bombing on a Shia religious ceremony in the city.
On
Wednesday, 16 men arrested by the military on suspicion of links to
Boko Haram were found dead with bullet wounds just hours later.
Yobe
is one of three northeastern states that has been under a state of
emergency since May last year to try to quell the bloody insurgency.
But
violence has continued unabated and Boko Haram has seized at least two
dozen towns and villages in recent months, raising doubts about the
government's ability to control the region.
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