by Anike Jacobs
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 Government Science & Technical Secondary School, Potiskum in Yobe State.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Yobe State, a territory close to the stronghold of Boko Haram Sunni Muslim militants, who have staged a five-year insurgency.
“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 told Reuters.
“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.”
Mariam Ibrahim, a teacher at the Government Science Secondary School (GSS) in Potiskum told Reuters the bomb went off as she was arriving and students were at morning assembly.
Potiskum resident Aliyu Abubakar said he heard the explosion when he was dropping off his two sons at a nearby Islamic college. “One of my sons fell down, I came out dragged him in and we drove off back home,” he said.
A second teacher, asking to remain anonymous, said, “There are some (others) that are critically injured and I am sure the death toll will rise.”
Boko Haram has 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.
Only last week a suicide bomber killed more than 20 members of the Shiite sect during a religious procession.
This is another common sad story that call for sober reflection and prayer.It’s conspicuous to note that the writer is trying to plant discord among the Muslims faithful by calling the rag-tag militants “Sunni”.Or does it glading ur heart to see divided line in Islam ?