A suspected Boko Haram suicide bomber disguised in school uniform killed 47 students in northeast Nigeria on Monday, in one of the worst attacks against schools teaching a so-called Western curriculum. The explosion ripped through an all-boys school in Potiskum just as students gathered for morning assembly at about 7.50am before classes began. 47 were killed and 79 injured
The massacre, described by President Goodluck Jonathan as a “dastardly attack”, came just a day after the release of a new Boko Haram video in which the Islamist group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, again rejected Nigerian government claims of a ceasefire and peace talks.
Yobe state governor Ibrahim Gaidam ordered the immediate closure of all public schools in the Potiskum area and slammed the government in Abuja for failing to tackle the insurgency. Pres.Jonathan promised those affected that his government would find the culprits, “no matter how long it takes.”