Suicide Bomber at School Assembly Kills Dozens in Nigeria

Local Editor

A suicide bomber dressed as a student killed at least 48 people, most of them students, and injured 79 others at a school assembly in the northeastern Nigerian town of Potiskum on Monday, a hospital official 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," she said, asking to remain anonymous.

"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 Potiskum General Hospital said.

Additionally, a teacher at the Government Science Secondary School [GSS] in Potiskum, Mariam Ibrahim, said the bomb went off as she was arriving and students were at morning assembly.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Yobe State, a territory close to the stronghold of Boko Haram militants, who have staged a five-year insurgency.
Boko Haram has meanwhile intensified its attacks in the past few weeks since a purported ceasefire agreement, announced by the Nigerian government, was later rejected by the group's leader in a video.
Boko Haram has attacked schools, abducted hundreds of students and killed thousands in the country.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team