29 Boarding School Children Burned Alive, Gunned Down In Nigeria
One victim’s parents’ found the dead bodies of his sons, ages 10 and 12, both of whom were gunned down. “We were sleeping when we heard gunshots,” said one 15-year-old student. “When I woke up, someone was pointing a gun at me. They burned the children alive.”
More than a dozen children escaped the attack by hiding in a bush, but haven’t been seen since.
From NBC News:
Islamic militants attacked a boarding school in northeast Nigeria before dawn Saturday, killing 29 students and one teacher.
Some of the pupils were burned alive in the latest school attack blamed on a radical terror group, survivors said.
Parents screamed in anguish as they tried to identify the charred and gunshot victims.
Farmer Malam Abdullahi found the bodies of two of his sons, a 10-year-old shot in the back as he apparently tried to run away, and a 12-year-old shot in the chest.
“That’s it, I’m taking my other boys out of school,” he told The Associated Press as he wept over the two corpses. He said he had three younger children in a nearby school.
“It’s not safe,” he said. “The gunmen are attacking schools and there is no protection for students despite all the soldiers.”
Survivors at the Potiskum General Hospital and its mortuary said gunmen attacked Government Secondary School in Mamudo village, 3 miles from Potiskum town at about 3 a.m. Saturday.
The gunmen are believed to be from the Boko Haram sect whose name means “Western education is sacrilege.”
The school has a population of 12,000. Survivors were transported to a nearby hospital to receive treatment for burns.
Islamic radicals have been a problem in the country. In May, President Goodluck Jonathan announced a state of emergency in a trio of north-eastern locations. The terrorists are seen as a threat to the West African nation’s oil industry.