Terrified studentshave fled boarding schools after an attack by
suspected Boko Haram extremists in which 43 students were shot and
hacked to death and the whole school razed.
Students refused to
stay overnight in their schools and colleges in the wake of the attack
on the Federal Government College in Buni Yadi, Yobe state on Tuesday.
"Most
students of boarding secondary schools have vacated their hostels and
moved back to their homes after news of the Buni Yadi attack," Yunusa
Ahmed, who lives in the state capital Damaturu, told AFP.
Ahmed's
son is currently studying at the city's Government Secondary School but
has now moved back home along with two classmates.
"They went to
school today (Wednesday) but returned after classes ended because they
are too afraid to sleep in the school for fear of a Boko Haram attack,"
Ahmed said.
Last October Yobe state authorities said Boko Haram
fighters burnt down 209 schools, causing damage worth an estimated $15.6
million (11.4 million euros).
The attacks are taking their toll
on education in a region that already lags behind the rest of Nigeria in
social and economic development.
'Callously murdered'
President
Goodluck Jonathan, in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday
evening to mark upcoming celebrations for the centenary of Nigeria's
unification, said the students were "callously murdered".
United
Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply concerned
about the increasing frequency and brutality of attacks against
educational institutions", adding that "no objective can justify such
violence".
A student at GSS Damaturu, who gave his name only as Mubarak, said students fled their dorms in fear of further attacks.
Last June seven students and a teacher were shot dead in the school when Boko Haram opened fire on a dormitory.
"We are afraid of a repeat of the horrifying incident of last year," Mubarak said.
Tuesday's attack was the fourth such raid on schools in Yobe state by Boko Haram in the past year.
In
September insurgents dressed in military uniform opened fire on student
hostels at an agriculture college in Gujba, killing 40.
The
Federal Government College, a girls' school in Yobe state's commercial
hub Potiskum, was shut indefinitely after concerned parents took their
daughters home, fearing it could be hit next, a teacher at the school
said.
"The school management sought approval from higher
authorities for the closure of the school because of the massive
withdrawal of students by parents, despite assurances by the school
management," said the teacher, who asked not to be identified.
Students have also fled at least two other boarding schools in the town, say locals.
The
fear of renewed violence was heightened by claims that the attackers of
Buni Yadi were spotted in a nearby village afterwards, Kabir added.
In
July last year, Boko Haram gunmen broke into a secondary school in
Mamudo village outside Potiskum, opening fire and throwing explosives
into dormitories, killing a teacher and 41 students as they slept.
Students of Bukar Abba Ibrahim University in Damaturu have also abandoned their halls of residence.
"The
attacks on secondary schools are a clear warning to us in the
university because if the attackers could murder secondary school
children one can only imagine what they would do if they attack a
university," said student Bashir Sani.
Many are staying with friends in the city. Only a few with nowhere else to go still sleep at the college, he said.
