23 students killed, 72 injured in Nigerian school bombing

At least 23 students were killed on Monday in the Government Senior Science Secondary School in Potiskum, Yobe state today when a bomb ripped through their school as they gathered for assembly before classes, rescue workers said.
“At the moment, we have 23 dead bodies in the hospital and 72 other students injured in the blast,” a rescue worker said in an account supported by a Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps member.

A local resident, Adamu Alkassim, said there was confusion in and around the school, after the bomb went off, triggering a scene of abandoned footwears and blood.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but Boko Haram militants are likely to be the prime suspects.

The group, which wants to create a hardline Islamic state in northern Nigerian, has previously carried out deadly attacks on schools teaching a so-called Western curriculum since 2009.

In February, gunmen killed at least 40 students when they opened fire on students and threw 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 gunmen attacked dormitories with guns and explosives in a government boarding school in the village of Mamudo, near Potiskum.

Potiskum, the commercial hub of Yobe state, has been repeatedly targeted by deadly attacks blamed on Boko Haram.

Just last week, at least 15 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack targeting a Shia religious ceremony in the city.

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 fears of the government’s ability to control the region.