Abuja, Oct 2 : At least 26 students were killed and several others injured when unidentified gunmen wearing military uniform attacked a hostel in northern Nigeria today.
Gunmen invaded the hostel of Mubi Polytechnic in northern state of Adamawa, killing 26 students, police sources said. A lecturer told reporters that the number of dead could be as much as 40.
He said that the gunmen wore military attire and told the students to identify themselves by name.
According to him, some of them were spared after mentioning their names but no reason was given by the assailants for the identification process.
The invaders used guns and knives in killing the students.
The spokesman of the oil-rich African country's National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Yushua Shuaib said he cannot say whether the assailants were members of a violent sect that is notorious within the region.
“I also do not have the total casualty figure but would make it available soon,” he told PTI.
A curfew has been imposed on the city but that did not deter the frightened students from fleeing the place in droves.
Several killings in the state have been carried out by a Muslim militant sect called Boko Haram which wants to convert the people of northern Nigeria to Islam by force and install a Sharia government.
The oil-rich African country's 150 million people are equally divided among Muslims and Christians.
The group is against Western education and influence and has been carrying out its violent activities since 2009 when its leader, Muhammed Yusuf was killed extra-judicially by the police.
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