Wednesday 5 March 2014

Forbidden’ slaughters 43 boys in Nigerian school after storming the building with guns, machetes and firebombs

  • Suspected militants from Al-Quaeda affiliated group burned children alive
  • Teacher says they set locked hostel on fire then shot and slit the throats of children who tried to escape through the windows
  • Other reports suggest attackers threw explosives, sprayed rooms with gunfire and used machetes to hack pupils to death
  • Attack brings toll from Boko Haram attacks to more than 300 this month 
  • A senior medical source at the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital in Yobe's capital Damaturu said the gunmen only targeted male students and that female students were 'spared'.


    'So far, 43 bodies have been brought (from the college) and are lying at the morgue,' said the source, who requested anonymity as he was not authorised to discuss death tolls.
    Damaturu resident Babagoni Musa told AFP that four ambulances carrying dead bodies drove past his shop, which falls on the road from Buni Yadi.
    'They had tree branches on them which is a sign used here to signify a corpse is in a vehicle,' he said.
    People whose relatives were studying at the college had surrounded the morgue and were desperately seeking information about those killed, forcing the military to take control of the building to restore calm, the hospital source said.
    Yobe is one of three northeastern states which was placed under emergency rule in May last year when the military launched a massive operation to crush the Boko Haram uprising.
    At least 40 students were killed in September at an agriculture training college in Yobe after Boko Haram gunmen stormed a series of dorms in the middle of the night and sprayed gunfire on sleeping students.

    Boko Haram are just one of several Islamist groups in Africa which are trying to seize power, including Somalia's al Shabaab (pictured)
    Boko Haram are just one of several Islamist groups in Africa which are trying to seize power, including Somalia's al Shabaab (pictured)

    Tuesday's attack brings the toll from killings blamed on Boko Haram to more than 300 this month alone.
    It is the first reported in Yobe state and the first school attack reported this year by suspected fighters of the terrorist network of Boko Haram - the nickname that means Western education is forbidden.
    President Goodluck Jonathan told a news conference Monday night that the Boko Haram attacks were 'quite worrisome' but that he was sure 'we will get over it.'
    Thousands of Nigerians have lost family members, houses, businesses, their belongings and livelihoods in the 4-year-old rebellion.
    And it likely will anger regional officials who charge the military is losing its war to halt the Islamic uprising in the northeast of Africa's biggest oil producer.
    The military has said recent attacks are being perpetrated by militants who have escaped a sustained aerial bombardment and ground assaults on forest hideouts along the border with Cameroon.
    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday condemned the 'unspeakable violence and acts of terror' and said the United States is helping Nigerian authorities to develop a comprehensive approach 'to combat the threat posed by Boko Haram while protecting civilians and ensuring respect for human rights.'
    But survivors and local officials charge they get no protection. And refugees who have fled to neighboring states have said that they are fleeing the extremists as much as the fallout from a military campaign in which soldiers are accused of gross human rights abuses including executions of people suspected of helping Boko Haram.
    'Everybody is living in fear,' local government chairman Maina Ularamu told AP after Izghe village was attacked twice in a week this month - with militants first killing 106 and burning hundreds of thatched huts, then returning to kill another three people and setting ablaze what little remained of the settlement in neighboring Adamawa state.
    'There is no protection. We cannot predict where and when they are going to attack. People can't sleep with their eyes closed,' Ularamu said.
     

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