At least 48 students were killed on Monday when a suicide bomber, disguised as a secondary school pupil, detonated a bomb when students of the Government Science and Technical College were waiting for their principal’s address at their school’s assembly ground.
According to witnesses, the explosion scattered body parts throughout the school premises and its environs. Adamu Alkassim, a resident of the town, recounted that blood was spilled everywhere at the scene of the blast.
The soldiers who were swiftly dispatched to the scene were not allowed in to the premises, as a mob quickly grew and vented it anger on the soldiers by resisting them with stones.
Barely a week ago, a suicide bomber who targeted the procession of the Shia Islamic group, killed more than 30 people in the city.
“We were waiting for the principal to address us, around 7:30 a.m., when we heard a deafening sound and I was blown off my feet, people started screaming and running, I saw blood all over my body,” 17-year-old student Musa Ibrahim Yahaya said from the general hospital, where he was being treated for head wounds.
Hospital workers said dozens are being treated including people with serious injuries that may need amputations.
“About 48 bodies, all between the ages of 11 and 20 years old, have been brought to the mortuary,” a mortuary attendant told reporters.
Consistent with reports credited to the military that a bomb factory, where explosives were being sewn into backpacks, was discovered in the northern city of Kano, some students said the bomber was carrying a rucksack on his back from where he detonated the bomb.
The bombing is coming only a few weeks after a Boko Haram cease fire, later fingered as fake, was announced by the Nigerian military
As at the time of this report, hospitals in the town were still receiving casualties and victims.
“The students had gathered for the morning assembly when something exploded in their midst with a thunderous sound at exactly 7:50 am,” a teacher in the school said.
“The explosion has affected many students but I can’t say how many because we are now evacuating the victims to the hospital which is just 100 metres (yards) away.”
In July last year, 42 students were killed when Boko Haram gunmen attacked student hostels Mamudo, near Potiskum.
Atiku outraged over bombing, deaths in Potiskum school
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has expressed outrage over the bombing of the Government Technical Science College, Potiskum by a yet unidentified suicide bomber dressed as a student of the school.
The former Vice President said in a statement by his media office in Abuja on Monday that the latest bombing which needlessly claimed the lives of 47 young and promising Nigerian school children is one too many and once again underscores the need for the government at all levels including our elders and opinion leaders to find a permanent solution to the problem of insurgency which has ravaged our country for the past five years.
Atiku noted that the tragic incident in Potiskum is not the first time in Yobe State and indeed in the troubled North-East region that innocent young people are subjected to violence and untimely death for the simple reason that they want an education.
“One expects that knowing the anti-education mind-set of the perpetrators of these heinous crimes, the relevant authorities should have done their bit to ensure that at least, our educational institutions are provided with additional security,” Atiku said.
Atiku Abubakar appealed to the perpetrators of this crime and similar ones in the past to have a rethink and refrain from taking life which none of us can create.
He expressed his condolences to the government and people of Yobe State, the management, staff and students of Government Technical Science College, Potiskum, the parents and guardians of the affected students and all those who may have been adversely affected by the senseless murder of these innocent students
Jonathan Commiserates With Government And People of Yobe State On Killing of Student
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan extends heartfelt commiserations to the Government and people of Yobe state on the death of many students in a bomb attack on Potiskum earlier today.
President Jonathan also conveys his deepest sympathies to all parents who lost their beloved children in the heinous attack on the Government Science Secondary School which appears to have been carried out by a suicide bomber.
The President condemns the dastardly murder of the students on their school’s assembly ground as they prepared to begin another week of study in pursuit of a better life for themselves and their families.
He assures the grieving parents and people of Yobe state that no matter how long it takes, the Federal Government will ensure that all those responsible for the senseless murder of so many promising youngsters and the continuing acts of terrorism across the country are brought to justice and made to pay for their atrocious crimes.
The President similarly assures all Nigerians that in spite of seeming setbacks, his Administration remains fully committed to winning the war against insurgency and terrorism.
Nigeria, President Jonathan affirms, will ultimately overcome the current security challenges imposed by domestic terrorists and their foreign allies, with the dedication of its Armed Forces and national security agencies, as well as the continued support and cooperation of all patriotic citizens.
