Gunman Opens Fire Outside School in Potiskum, Injures 12
Gunman Opens Fire Outside School in Potiskum, Injures 12
A gunman opened fire on Friday outside a
school in northeast Nigeria’s city of
Potiskum, seriously wounding 12 students
in an area repeatedly targeted by Boko
Haram, a police officer and witnesses said.
“We have evacuated 12 people with
serious gunshot wounds to hospital from
the scene of the shooting attack,” said the
officer, who requested anonymity.
Multiple students at the College of
Administrative and Business Studies
(CABS) in Potiskum, Yobe state, said the
attacker with explosives strapped to his
body blew himself up when he ran out of
ammunition, but the blast caused no
other casualties.
Following a wave of attacks in the city,
including on schools and colleges,
students at CABS must pass through
security screening before entering the
campus.
The gunman fired on a crowd waiting at
the gate to be screened, witnesses said.
“We had just started a class when we
heard gunshots coming from the direction
of the gates and we instantly realised we
were under attack which made us to rush
out of the class,” student Tijjani Musa said.
According to another student, Mustapha
Umar, the gunman managed to pass
through the gates amid the chaos that
broke out after he began shooting.
“He kept firing sporadic shots,” but was
chased by a group of students who were
frantically trying to subdue him, said
Umar.
“When he ran out of ammunition he
detonated the explosives under his robe,
killing himself but no one from the
crowd,” Umar told AFP.
While there was no immediate claim of
responsibility for the attack, Potiskum has
been repeatedly targeted by Boko Haram
throughout the group’s Islamist uprising.
Last November, at least 58 people were
killed and another 117 injured when a
suicide bomber attacked a student
assembly ground inside the Government
Comprehensive Secondary School, which
is next to CABS.
That attack was blamed on Boko Haram.
Nigeria’s military has claimed a series of
major victories over Boko Haram across
the northeast during an operation
launched in February with support from
neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
But experts say the insurgents remain
capable of hit-and-run strikes, and may
increasingly target soft civilian targets,
despite being weakened by the military
offensive.
