Secondary schools in Northern Nigeria close after 42 students killed

Secondary schools in the north-eastern Nigerian state of Yobe have been ordered to close until September after a massacre at a boarding school.

Authorities said 42 people were killed in a gun and bomb attack by suspected Islamist extremists early on Saturday in the Mamudo district.

Witnesses said the assailants, believed to be Boko Haram Islamists, rounded up students and staff in a dormitory before throwing explosives inside and opening fire.

The gunmen "stormed the school around 5:30am and began to shoot at the students from different directions," said a spokesman for a military task force in the state, Lieutenant Eli Lazarus.

A senior police officer said the students were asleep when the attackers stormed their school.

It was the third school attack in the region in recent weeks, and the second in Yobe.

The government issued a statement ordering "all secondary schools in the state be closed down from Monday 8th July 2013 until a new academic session begins in September."

Boko Haram, which translates roughly to "Western education is a sin," has repeatedly targeted schools in the north-east as part of its four year insurgency.

One local resident said Saturday's attack was believed to be a reprisal for the killing of 22 Boko Haram members during a military raid in the town of Dogon Kuka earlier in the week.

The European Union condemned the Yobe school attack, as a "horrific murder by terrorists."


Calls for phone network to be restored

The state government also called on the military to restore local mobile phone services, saying a blackout was preventing residents from reporting suspicious activity.

Nigeria's military cut phone service in much of the country's north-east in mid-May, in an effort to end Boko Haram's insurgency.

Satellite phones have also been banned, with the military saying insurgents use them to plan attacks, and landlines are rare.

A number of residents had initially expressed support for the phone cut if it could lead to peace.

Violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency has left some 3,600 people dead since 2009, including killings by security forces, which have come under criticism for alleged abuses.

The current military offensive was launched after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states on May 14.

He said at the time that the insurgents had managed to take control of a number of remote, border areas of the region.

Since then, the military has claimed major successes and say they have pushed the insurgents out, but the violence has continued, indicating the gains may be short-lived.

ABC

Related story: Video - Thousands flee Boko Haram violence