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Nigerian students slain

February 25, 2014

Gunmen have killed dozens of secondary school students and staff during a nighttime attack in Nigeria's northeast region. Authorities suspect Boko Haram Islamists.

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A bumpy Okwe road leads to the home of Ralph Uwazuruike, leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) 19 August 2005.More than three decades after the breakaway "Republic of Biafra" suffered a bloody defeat at the hands of federal forces, rebellious shoppers are once again spending Biafran pounds and shillings in the markets of southeastern Nigeria. In the latest sign of the centrifugal forces threatening to tear Africa's largest oil exporter apart, ethnic Igbo rebel leaders have reintroduced the bills, which are identical to those minted during Biafra's doomed three-year struggle for independence. AFP PHOTO / PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (Photo credit should read PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images)
Image: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images

Attackers hurled explosives and sprayed gunfire on school students in the town of Buni Yadi in Nigeria's Yobe state early on Tuesday, killing at least 29 students. The attackers fled, reportedly before the local military had time to arrive.

Yobe is one of several regions hardest hit by a four-year uprising by the Islamists whose name translates as "Western education is forbidden."

A medical source at Yobe's regional hospital in Damaturu told the AFP news agency that the assailants only targeted male students. Female students were "spared."

The military was forced to take control of a morgue where relatives had massed, desperately seeking information about those killed.

Latest in series of attacks

Last September, at least 40 students were killed at an agriculture training college in Yobe when Boko Haram gunmen stormed dormitories.

The governors of Yobe and the neighboring state of Borno recently criticized the Nigerian military's efforts against Boko Haram, insisting that more resources were needed.

Last week in a video, the militia's purported leader Abubakar Shekau said his group would press its campaign against anyone who supports democracy or Western values.

ipj/dr (AFP,dpa)