The military Joint Task Force (JTF) has confirmed that 42 students of the Government Secondary School, Mamudo were killed on Saturday by suspected members of the Boko Haram sect.
Spokesperson of JTF in Yobe state, Lieutenant Eli Lazarus who confirmed the incident said the attackers stormed the school and began shooting from different directions.
An official of the Potiskum General Hospital, Haliru Aliyua, lso confirmed the casualty to the media saying “we received 42 dead bodies of students and other staff of Government Secondary School (in) Mamudo last night. Some of them had gunshot wounds while many of them had burns and ruptured tissues.”
It was earlier reported that 29 students and a teacher were killed in the attack on a boarding school in the northeast Nigerian town of Potiskum. The attackers set fire to buildings and shot pupils as they tried to flee, a source said on Saturday.
“From accounts of teachers and other students who escaped the attack, the gunmen gathered their victims in a hostel and threw explosives and opened fire, leading to the death of 42,” Aliyu said.
“So far six students have been found and are now in the hospital being treated for gunshot wounds,” he added.
Several students are still in the hospital.
This latest incident has sparked panic among students in the state and many have left their dormitories for home even though schools are still in session in the state.
Mamudo is some five kilometers from Potiskum, the commercial hub of Yobe state, which has been a flashpoint in the Boko Haram insurgency in recent months.
Yobe state is among the three states currently under a state of emergency imposed two months ago by President Goodluck Jonathan.
