Death toll from Yobe school massacre rises to 43

The death toll from a school massacre in Yobe by suspected Boko Haram Islamists on Tuesday has risen to 43, a hospital source in the troubled northeastern Yobe state said.

“Ambulances have been bringing in bodies from Federal Government College in (the town of Buni Yadi,” a senior medical source at the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital in Yobe’s capital Damaturu told AFP. “So far 43 bodies have been brought and are lying at the morgue,” he said, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to discuss death tolls.

Barely 24 hours after the soldiers manning the check point close to the main gate of the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe State were withdrawn, Boko Haram terrorists, numbering more than 50, yesterday, invaded the school at 1.30 am, killing more than 43 students and staff while abducting 16 female students.

The insurgents who went on a killing spree without any challenge from security agents also burnt down all the students’ hostels, the classrooms, and about 40 houses including the council’s secretariat complex, high court, government and private establishments as well as telecommunication masts.

The college was the fourth educational institution attacked in the state in the last eight months. Buni Yadi is about 65 kilometres from Damaturu, the state capital, while Gujba town which witnessed a deadly attack at the College of Agriculture, last year where over 40 students were killed, is located south and about 35 kilometres from the state capital.


Yobe is one of three northeastern states which was placed under emergency rule in May last year when the military launced a massive operation to crush the Boko Haram uprising.