Suicide Bomber Kills 48 Students in Nigeria, Boko Haram Involvement Suspected
A suicide bomber has killed at least 48 students in an explosion at a high school assembly in the northeastern Nigerian city of Potiskum on Monday. Terror group Boko Haram is suspected to be behind the attack, police have said.
"We were waiting for the principal to address us, around 7:30 a.m., when we heard a deafening sound and I was blown off my feet, people started screaming and running, I saw blood all over my body," said 17-year-old student Musa Ibrahim Yahaya, who is being treated in hospital for head wounds, according to The Associated Press.
The bomber was apparently dressed in a school uniform when he carried out the attack during the assembly, where close to 2,000 students had gathered. Potiskum's general hospital reported that another 79 students are being treated for injuries.
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"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 the hospital who asked to remain anonymous 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."
Police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu confirmed that the Islamic militants are the prime suspects in the attack.
"We suspect Boko Haram is behind the attack," Ojukwu said, according to CNN.
Soldiers arrived to inspect the scene after the bombing, but were apparently pelted with stones by citizens angry at the army's inability to stop Boko Haram in its five year offensive on the Nigerian state and the Nigerian people.
The terror group, which has also heavily targeted Christians in its violent attacks and mission to establish Islamic rule over the country, recently shot down hopes that it would return the 200 schoolgirls kidnapped from the town of Chibok in April.
Despite initial government reports that a truce had been reached with Boko Haram, the terror group's leader Abubakar Shekau revealed earlier in November that there is to be no ceasefire, and that the girls had been sold and married off to Islamic husbands.
While no one has officially claimed responsibility for Monday's suicide bombing as of yet, Reuters noted that Yobe State is close to Boko Haram's stronghold in the northeast.
Boko Haram has attacked schools and universities more than once, and back in February killed close to 40 students inside hostels in a government boarding school in the town of Buni Yadi.
Another 42 students were reported to have been killed in 2013 after the terror group stormed a government boarding school near Potiskum.
