The European Union has condemned the “horrific murder by terrorists” of dozens of people, mostly students, in an attack on a secondary school in Nigeria.
The attack, blamed on the rebel group Boko Haram, happened on Saturday at a school in Mamudo, Yobe, one of three states where the government declared a state of emergency in May in a push to rein in the group.
“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the horrific murder by terrorists of some 30 innocent children and a teacher early on Saturday morning in a school in Mamudo town in northeastern Nigeria,” Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, said on Sunday in a statement.
Ashton promised Nigerians her “solidarity and determination to help them bring security, peace and reconciliation to the north”, and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.
Survivors of the dawn attack said gunmen rounded up students and staff at the school in Nigeria’s restive northeast and placed them in a dormitory before throwing explosives inside and opening fire.
A hospital official in nearby Potiskum said 42 people were killed. A spokesman for Nigeria’s military, which often underplays casualty figures, said 20 students and one teacher were killed.
Boko Haram, which means “Western education is a sin”, has killed hundreds of students in attacks on schools in the region in recent months.
Nigeria launched a major offensive against Boko Haram on May 15, battling anti-government fighters in the states of Adamawa, Yobe and Borno.
The ongoing offensive has forced thousands of Nigerians from their homes into refuge in neighbouring countries of Niger and Cameroon.
wirestory
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