– About 48 persons confirmed dead.
A suicide bomber, disguised in school uniform detonated explosives at a high school assembly in the northeastern Nigerian city of Potiskum on Monday. The blast is said to have already claimed the lives of at least 48 students, according to reports. Soldiers rushed to the scene in the capital of Yobe state, but they were chased away by a crowd throwing stones and shouting that they are angry at the military’s inability to halt a 5-year-old Islamic insurgency that has killed thousands and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes.
Some 2,000 students had gathered for Monday morning’s weekly assembly at the Government Technical Science College when the explosion blasted through the school hall, according to survivors. “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,” 17-year-old student Musa Ibrahim Yahaya said from the general hospital, where he was being treated for head wounds.
Hospital records show 79 students were admitted and health workers said they include serious injuries that may require amputations. The hospital was so overcrowded that some patients were squashed two to a bed. A morgue attendant said 48 bodies were brought to the hospital and all appeared to be between the ages of 11 and 20 years old. He withheld his identity since that information is not usually released to the press. Survivors said the bomber appeared to have hidden the explosives in a type of rucksack popular with students. Months ago Nigeria’s military had reported finding a bomb factory where explosives were being sewn into rucksacks in the northern city of Kano.
Many Nigerians are angry that Boko Haram has increased attacks and bombings since the government on October 17 claimed to have brokered a cease-fire. Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, has denied negotiating a truce.
Extracted and modified from Yahoo News.
