Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

 
40 Nigerian Students Killed in Attack on Northeastern College

September 29, 2013

Gunmen kill students as they sleep in Nigerian college

By Joe Hemba

Sun Sep 29, 2013 10:19am EDT

DAMATURU, Nigeria (Reuters) -

Militants stormed a college in northeastern Nigeria and shot dead around 40 male students, some of them while they slept early on Sunday, witnesses said.

The gunmen 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 militant group, Boko Haram, has intensified attacks on civilians in recent weeks in revenge for a military offensive against its insurgency.

Several schools, seen as the focus of Western-style education and culture, have been targeted.

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.

A Reuters witness counted 40 bloody corpses piled on the floor at the main hospital in Yobe state capital Damaturu on Sunday, mostly of young men believed to be students.

The bodies were brought from the college, which is in Gujba, a rural area 30 miles (50km) south of Damaturu and around 130 miles from Nigerian borders with Cameroon and Niger.

State police commissioner Sanusi Rufai said he suspected Boko Haram was behind the attack but gave no details.

REVENGE ATTACKS

Thousands have been killed since Boko Haram launched its uprising in 2009.

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 (militants) fled bases in cities, forests and mountains. Then the militants began revenge attacks on schools, security forces and civilians believed to be helping them.

In July, suspected Boko Haram militants killed 27 students and a teacher at a school in Potiskum, a town about 30 miles from the site of Sunday's attack.

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.

Boko Haram's insurgency is also putting pressure on the economy of Africa's most populous nation. Nigeria's security spending has risen to more than 1 trillion naira ($6.26 billion) per year, or around 20 percent of the federal budget. ($1 = 159.8 Nigerian naira)

(Additional reporting by Isaac Abrak in Kaduna; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Several students killed in Nigeria college attack

DAMATURU, Nigeria, September 29, 2013 (Xinhua) --

Several students were killed in a college in Nigeria's northeastern state of Yobe when gunmen unleashed the terror attack on Sunday morning, sources reported.

The College of Agriculture, located in Gujba, 50 km south of Damaturu, the state capital, came under attack by gunmen who shot mindlessly at students, an official who craved for anonymity said.

"Several dead bodies have been recovered from bushes, classrooms and hostels, within and outside the school premises," the source told a Xinhua reporter.

More corpses are still being recovered as rescuers have begun to comb the area for other dead or injured victims, the source added.

Abdullahi Garba, a student of the college, recounted his experience, saying the gunmen shot sporadically.

"Surviving students are at the moment fleeing the school premises. We really want to reunite with our families right now," he said.

Most of the students have fears for more attacks by the gunmen, he noted.

Security agencies were yet to confirm the attack or number of casualties as at the time of filing this report.

On July 6, at least 29 pupils and a teacher were killed by suspected Boko Haram members in a pre-dawn attack on a school in Yobe State.

Yobe State, in the volatile northeastern region of Nigeria, is one of three states where President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in May, sending thousands of troops to the area.

Editor: Mengjie

27 dead in fresh Boko Haram attacks on Nigeria villages

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, Sept. 29, 2013 (Xinhua) --

At least 27 people have been killed by Boko Haram insurgents in two separate attacks on villagers in Nigeria northeast border town of Borno State, a local official told Xinhua on Sunday.

The insurgents attacked Fulatari and Kanumburi wards of Gamboru town at Ngala Local Government, about 130 km from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital on Wednesday and Thursday nights, chairman of Gamboru/Ngala Local Government, Modu Gana Sheriff said in Maiduguri, the state capital.

The local government boss said he had visited the families of the deceased and victims who are mostly local traders and youth volunteers to sympathize with them.

He described the incident as heinous crime against humanity, calling on Nigerians to condemn the attack on defenseless villagers.

Sheriff disclosed that six people were killed while four people were wounded in Fulatari attack. He added 21 people including the village head of Gamboru Lawan Ali Shettima were killed at Kunumburi ward. Two others sustained injuries from bullets, he said.

He also appealed to the youth vigilante members not to be deterred by the killing of their colleagues. He urged families of the deceased and victims to take solace in God and pray to have the fortitude to bear the loss.

He donated money and food items to the affected families and the youth volunteer group.

A military source said the attackers stormed the community and opened fire on the youth volunteers while the second attack on Thursday was well-coordinated.

The source said the attackers invaded the community, Kanumburi at about 10 p.m. local time.

Activities of the Boko Haram have recently been on the increase in Borno, a state in the northeastern region of Nigeria, which shares a border with Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

In April, the Nigerian government tried to broker a ceasefire with the sect but failed.

Editor: Hou Qiang