Scores killed as explosion rocks Yobe school

At least 46 students have been killed by a suicide bomber at a school assembly in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Potiskum, police have said.

Two children are treated at the general hospital in Potiskum, Nigeria on 10 November 2014.The explosion at a boys' school in the town is believed to have been caused by a suicide bomber dressed as a student.The militant group Boko Haram is believed to have carried out the attack, police said.The group has targeted schools during a deadly five-year insurgency aimed at establishing an Islamic state.

It is waging a sustained campaign to prevent children from going to school. It believes girls should not attend school and boys should only receive an Islamic education.

Eyewitnesses said bodies of the victims were scattered around the assembly ground, while both staff and students ran helter-skelter to rush the wounded to the hospital.

Potiskum, the largest commercial town of the state, was thrown into pandemonium as many parents rushed to the school and other schools in the town to pick their children back home.

All the schools in the town were desolate as the pupils and teachers had fled.

Though no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, the blast is believed to be the handiwork of the Islamic fundamentalist group, Boko Haram, which has been carrying out a reign of terror in the North eastern part of the country.

A resident of the town, Ibrahim Ahmed, told newsmen on the telephone, “We heard a loud sound and since then, the area was condoned off but ambulances have been going into the school to pick corpses and take the injured to the hospital. Potiskum has been in pandemonium since 7.45am as a result of the attack on the school.

“I can tell you all schools in the town have been closed now as parents have gone to pick their children. There is wailing everywhere especially around the school where the incident happened.”

The Yobe State Commissioner of Police, Markus Danladi, who confirmed the incident, said he was on his way to the scene of the incident and promised to give details later.