Schools shut after Boko Haram massacre

Nigeria’s northeastern Yobe state on Sunday ordered the
closure of all secondary schools after a massacre that saw
suspected Islamist extremists kill 42 people in a gun and
bomb attack on a boarding school.
Yobe state Governor Ibrahim Geidam has “directed that all
secondary schools in the state be closed down from
Monday 8th July 2013 until a new academic session begins
in September,” a government statement said.
The attack early Saturday in the Mamudo district saw
assailants — believed to be Boko Haram Islamists — round
up students and staff in a dormitory before throwing
explosives inside and opening fire, said Haliru Aliyu of
Potiskum General Hospital, quoting witnesses who
escaped.
It was the third school attack in the region in recent weeks,
including two in Yobe.
The state government also called on the military to restore
mobile phone service, saying it was preventing residents
from reporting suspicious activity.
Nigeria’s military cut phone service in much of the
country’s northeast in mid-May, when it launched a
sweeping offensive seeking to end a four-year insurgency
by Boko Haram.
Satellite phones have also been banned, with the military
saying insurgents use them to plan attacks. Landline
service is extremely rare in Nigeria.
A number of residents had initially expressed support for the
phone cut if it could lead to peace, but the Yobe
government’s statement indicated patience was running
out.
Boko Haram, which translates roughly to “Western
education is a sin,” has repeatedly targeted schools in the
northeast as part of its insurgency.
One local resident said Saturday’s attack was believed to
be a reprisal for the killing of 22 Boko Haram members
during a military raid in the town of Dogon Kuka on
Thursday.
A senior police officer said the students were asleep when
the attackers stormed their school. They then started
“shooting sporadically and subsequently set the students’
hostel ablaze,” he said.
Lieutenant Eli Lazarus, spokesman for a military task force
in the state, said the gunmen “stormed the school around
5:30 am and began to shoot at the students from different
directions.”
Violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency has left
some 3,600 people dead since 2009, including killings by
security forces, which have come under criticism for alleged
abuses.