Many killed as Boko Haram opens fire on sleeping students in Yobe

Boko Haram gunmen on Sunday stormed a college dormitory in Nigeria’s conflict-scarred northeast, firing on students as they slept, the military told AFP, in the latest such attack blamed on the Islamist insurgents.
Security forces were at the scene but details on the number of dead and injured were not yet available, area military spokesman Lazarus Eli said.
The early morning assault targeted the College of Agriculture in the town of Gujba in Yobe state, Eli said.
It was carried out by “Boko Haram terrorists who went into the school and opened fire on students,” while they were sleeping, he added.
A police source, who requested anonymity, told AFP that initial reports indicated the death toll could be high but he was not prepared to discuss figures.
Gujba is roughly 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the state capital of Damaturu.
Yobe has seen a series of brutal attacks targeting students in recent months, all blamed on Boko Haram.
The worst occurred in July in the town of Mamudo, where the Islamists threw explosives and sprayed gunfire into dormitories in the middle of the night, killing 41 students.
The name Boko Haram means ‘Western education is forbidden’ and the group has repeatedly attacked schools, universities and colleges during its four-year insurgency.
The military has described the spate of recent school attacks as a sign of desperation by the Islamists, claiming they only have the capacity to hit soft targets.
The defence ministry has said that an offensive launched against Boko Haram in mid-May has decimated the group and scattered their fighters across remote parts of the northeast.
While many of the recent attacks have occurred in more remote areas, often targeting defenceless civilians, the unchecked killing has cast doubt on the success of the military’s campaign.
The northeast remains under a state of emergency imposed on May 14.

-nigerianewsdesk

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The Medical Director, Damaturu Specialist Hospital, Dr Garba Fika, has confirmed that 40 students of the College of Agriculture, Gujba, Yobe, were  killed by gunmen in the early hours of Sunday.

Mr. Garba said this when Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe visited the hospital to inspect the wounded and the corpses of students deposited at the mortuary.

He said that five students including three with fractures, one with bullet wound and other with abdominal injury were receiving treatment at the hospital.

The governor, who spoke in tears, urged security operatives to intensify aerial surveillance of the area.

The state deputy governor, Abubakar Aliyu, the Provost of the College Mulima Mato, and other dignitaries also shed tears at the mortuary when they saw the corpses of the students.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that schools in Yobe re-opened 13 days ago after 10 weeks of forced closure following attacks targeted on schools.

The attacks resulted in the death of 29 students and three teachers.

In June this year, seven students and two teachers were killed at Government Secondary School Damaturu.

In July, 22 students and two teachers were killed at Government Secondary School Mamudo.

As the government makes arrangement for the burial of the slain students, parents were seen in groups discussing the fate of their children in view of the serial attacks on schools in the state

Speaking in an interview with the NAN, a parent who requested anonymity said that he and other parents were scared of sending their children and wards to school.

“We are shocked, saddened and scared of sending our wards back to school with these ugly incidents of attack on schools in Damaturu, Mamudo and now, Gujba,”  he said.

Source: Premium Times

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