Potiskum school suicide bomber was disguised in school uniform – Police
A suicide bomber who killed at least 47 students and injured 79 others
in northeast Nigeria was disguised in school uniform, the federal police
said on Monday.
Force spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu confirmed media
reports that the bomber passed unnoticed at the school in Potiskum, Yobe
state, to detonate the explosives as students gathered for morning assembly.
The explosion ripped through an all-boys school in Potiskum just as
students gathered for morning assembly before classes began, causing
panic and chaos.
The massacre came just a day after the release of a
new Boko Haram video in which the Islamist 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 were waiting to hear the principal’s daily address
when the explosion happened at 7:50 am (0650 GMT).
Several witnesses
described the blast as “thunderous” and the bloody aftermath as a scene
of abandoned footwear, charred school books, bags and body parts.
“There was an explosion detonated by a suicide bomber. We have 47 dead
and 79 injured,” national police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu said, adding
that Boko Haram was believed to be responsible.
Ojukwu also
confirmed local media reports that the bomber was disguised as a student
at the school, which has more than 1,000 pupils aged 15 to 20.
Yobe
state governor Ibrahim Gaidam ordered the immediate closure of all
public schools in the Potiskum area and slammed the government in Abuja
for failing to tackle the insurgency.
“Urgent action must be taken
right now to restore a fast-waning public confidence by doing whatever
it takes to stop the escalating violence,” he said in a statement
– Blood-stained uniforms –
Student Adamu Abdullahi said those at the centre of the blast near the
principal’s office were flung in all directions and others were knocked
off their feet.
“I found myself under the weight of another student,
who fell over me. I’m certain he was dead. I was dazed and
disorientated for a moment,” he told AFP.
“When I realised what had
happened, I managed to push the body on top of me and started running
like everyone else. It was confusion all over. Everybody was hysterical.
“I saw many people on the ground. Human flesh and blood were splattered
all over the place… I ran out of the school and went home.
“When my
father saw me he was terrified. I didn’t realise my white school
uniform was stained with human blood and bits of flesh.”
The dead and injured were taken to the Potiskum General Hospital just 100 metres (yards) away.
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.
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.
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.
Monday’s attack will again raise concerns about the level of security
at schools in northern Nigeria — Abdullahi said the establishment was
“not properly fenced”.
– Relentless violence –
Potiskum has been
repeatedly targeted in deadly attacks blamed on Boko Haram, including
last Monday, when a suicide bombing killed at least 15 at a Shiite
religious ceremony.
Yobe is one of three northeastern states that has been under a state of emergency since May last year.
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.
Governor Gaidam said
President Goodluck Jonathan “has a very urgent responsibility to
explain… why murderous and callous insurgent and criminal attacks are
still on the rise”.
Boko Haram fighters were seen in a new video
obtained by AFP on Sunday parading a tank in an unidentified town that
they apparently now control and Shekau preaching to locals.
The
message in the 44-minute video appeared to be aimed at reinforcing
Shekau’s claim that he has created a caliphate within Nigeria.
Shekau, who has previously expressed solidarity with other jihadi groups
and leaders, seemed to associate territory under his control with a
wider, global caliphate.
But he does not submit to the authority of any other leader.
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11/11/2014
Potiskum school suicide bomber was disguised in school uniform – Police
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