Gunmen call out, kill 46 students

 

Unknown gunmen

THE seeming lull in the violent attacks by the dreaded Boko Haram religious sect in the North suddenly changed on Monday night, as no fewer than 46 students of the Federal Polytechnic
and two other institutions in Mubi, Adamawa State, were killed in a renewed violence, shattering the fragile peace in the North-East area.

Authentic sources close to the polytechnic revealed that 25 students of the institution and 20 others from other institutions were killed by the gunmen.
Nigerian Tribune was authoritatively informed that the latest attack, which occurred in Wuro Fatuje, a popular off campus hostel, accommodating students of three tertiary institutions, including Adamawa State University, was premeditated, as the gun-wielding men fished out their targets from houses, shooting them at very close range.
Though the Police Public Relations Officer, Adamawa State command, DSP Ibrahim Mohammed, said that 25 persons lost their lives to the attack, eyewitnesses hinted that about 40 people died in the gruesome murder.
While the motive behind the killings could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report, sources informed Nigerian Tribune that most of the victims were caught unawares when the suspected gunmen stormed Mubi around 10.00  p.m., shooting indiscriminately, thus forcing terrified residents to run in different directions to avoid being caught up in the melee.
The development came on the heels of success recorded by the authorities of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF), which about a week ago arrested 156 suspected Boko Haram militants and uncovered a local bomb manufacturing factory, belonging to the sect, while a large cache of arms was also impounded from the sect’s hideout in Adamawa.
As a result of the incident, the Commander of 23 Armoured Brigade, Yola, Brigadier-General John Nwoaga; the Adamawa State Commissioner of Police, Mr Geoffrey Okereke and the Director of the State Security Service (SSS) and other security chiefs have relocated to Mubi, a town bordering Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, and other flash points of terrorist attacks in the North-East.
Some of the victims who survived the fresh onslaught were rushed to nearby hospitals, while the corpses of the victims have been deposited at Mubi General Hospital.
One of the residents, who spoke to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa service, said more than 40 persons were shot dead, but Red Cross official told Agence France Press (AFP) that he saw more than 10 corpses after the attack.
According to the resident, “The gunmen, who dressed in army camouflage, ordered the students to line up and mentioned their names. Some of them were shot dead and others stabbed with knives and their blood soaked bodies left in lines outside the buildings.
“It is not clear why some students were killed and others spared. Some of those killed were Christians and others were Muslims. Everybody is scared and students and other inhabitants of Mubi are now leaving the town in droves.”
Meanwhile, the state government, which relaxed the curfew imposed on the town some days ago, has again ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew, just as the Federal Polytechnic and the Adamawa State University have been shut indefinitely.

Culled from Nigerian Tribune