Death Toll In College Of Agriculture Attack In Yobe Rises to 67

The death toll in attack at the College of Agriculture, Gujba, 50 KM from the Yobe state capital by men of the dreaded Boko Haram sect has risen to 67.

This figure was confirmed by the state state commissioner of police, just as an eyewitness said he counted over 40 bodies at the main hospital in Yobe’s state capital Damaturu, mostly young men believed to be college students.

Bodies were recovered from dormitories, classrooms and outside in the undergrowth on Sunday, a member of staff at the college told Reuters, asking not to be named.

The men of the Boko Haram sect who have in recent times produced to crumble the country stormed the school in the wee hours of Sunday and attacked one hostel, took some students outside before killing them and shot others trying to flee, people at the scene told Reuters.

“They started gathering students into groups outside, then they opened fire and killed one group and then moved onto the next group and killed them. It was so terrible,” said one surviving student Idris, who would only give his first name.

“They came with guns around 1 a.m. (2400 GMT) and went directly to the male hostel and opened fire on them … The college is in the bush so the other students were running around helplessly as guns went off and some of them were shot down,” said Ahmed Gujunba, a taxi driver who lives by the college.

The recent wave of attacks by the sect is largely believed to be the sect’s revenge mission since President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in three northeastern state in May, including Yobe, and ordered a military offensive to crush Boko Haram’s insurgency.

There was an initial lull in the violence as Islamists fled bases in cities, forests and mountains. Then the militants began revenge attacks on schools, security forces and civilians believed to be helping them.

Several hundred people have died in assaults over the past few weeks. Some observers say the army offensive has only succeeded in pushing attacks away from well-guarded large towns and cities into vulnerable rural areas.

Reuters