Seven students and two teachers of the Government Day Secondary School Damaturu, Yobe State, were on Sunday night killed by men suspected to be members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect.
The insurgents were also reported to have attacked a military checkpoint around the pilgrims area.
Two of the insurgents were, however, killed by the military, while three security personnel were critically wounded during the attack, spokesman of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF), Lazarus Eli, said.
He said three of the attackers were captured with various weapons, including one AK47 riffle, one RPG bomb, 48 rounds of 7.62 (special) ammunition.
The insurgents, according to eyewitnesses, gained entrance into the school and launched attack on the students at about 9.30 p.m. in their hostel.
Mohammed Idi, who had gunshot wounds, told our correspondent at the Accident and Emergency Ward of the General Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital that he was shot by one of the insurgents after he came out of the hostel.
“We were sleeping in the hostel and suddenly we heard a gunshot outside. We got confused and many of us scattered. Immediately, I came out, they started shooting at us.
“I was shot in the leg and the bullet went through my bone. I fell down and tried to run but I could not,” Idi narrated.
The school authority has confirmed the death of nine people.
Our correspondent who visited the school observed that only final year students writing their NECO exams were left, as other students had fled.
One of the supervisors said three of the students killed were in their final year.
A medical doctor, Salim Mohamed Umar, disclosed that the hospital received 11 dead bodies together with seven students with gunshot wounds.
One of the wounded students said the insurgents tied the hands of one of his mates who took them to the house of a teacher where they killed four people, including the teacher.
He explained that all the students killed were either shot in the head or in the neck.
Sunday’s attack brought an end to almost 10 months of relative peace in Yobe State capital, Damaturu, and other parts of the state.
The situation has compelled the state government to revert to the earlier curfew of 6.00 p.m. to 6.00 a.m. instead of the 9.00 p.m. to 7.00 a.m. which was just reviewed last week.
Another report from Ibadan, Oyo State capital, on Monday said chairman of the Agbeni mini-truck branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Rafiu Adebayo (alias Ola Ruffy), has been murdered by suspected masquerades around Apaana, Foko.
This has led to the shutting down of the market.
The late Adebayo was said to have visited state chairman of the NURTW, Taofeek Oyerinde (alias Fele), earlier on Sunday morning after which he left for Obafemi Awolowo Stadium (former Liberty Stadium) in the afternoon for a competition.
But on his return around 4.30 p.m., he was allegedly attacked by one of the popular masquerades (name withheld) in Ibadan.
Adebayo was said to have been stabbed in four different parts of his head and then shot in the thigh.
This led to serious bleeding as a result of which he was rushed to a nearby hospital, Premier Hospital, by one Kazeem Kadek.
He died while medical personnel were busy stitching the wounds on his head.
It was gathered that one of Adebayo’s associates, Fatai, who tried to rescue him, was also attacked.
Narrating the incident, Kadek explained that the late Adebayo pleaded that his rescuers should do everything to ensure his safety.
“He was saying, ‘Please don’t let me die. There is money if the hospital will need money, please don’t let me die’.”
The assailants were also alleged to have attacked Adebayo’s house, destroying the window blades and the door of his room.
Fatai, in his own account, alleged that the late Adebayo was a target of his assailants, saying the manner in which he was killed confirmed their mission.
“They even vowed to come after the rest of us one by one,” Fatai claimed.
Reacting, Oyerinde, state chairman of the NURTW, described the incident as sad, urging the law enforcement agents to bring the culprits to book.
According to him, “Few elements are hiding under the umbrella of masquerade festivals to perpetrate evil.”
Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Indabawa, who confirmed the incident, said police have begun investigation into the matter.
