Suicide bomber kills dozens at school in Nigeria

Several dozen people were killed Monday when a suicide bomber detonated an explosion at a school in northeast Nigeria, according to media reports.

The Associated Press reported the bomber was disguised in a school uniform.

The incident occurred at the Government Technical Science College in the city of Potiskum, the capital of Yobe state. Officials said 47 people are reported to have died in the explosion.

National police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu told Reuters: "There was an explosion detonated by a suicide bomber. We have 47 dead and 79 injured."

He said the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram was believed to be responsible.

Health workers told the AP that some of the injured may require amputations.

Speaking to Bloomberg on the phone from the town, Potiskum resident Abubakar Mohammed said: "We heard a large bang and since then the area has been cordoned off. Potiskum was gripped by pandemonium today."

He added: "All schools in the town have been closed now as parents have gone to pick up their children.

"There is wailing especially around the school where the incident happened."

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The AP said soldiers who rushed to the scene were chased away by a crowd throwing stones and shouting that they are angry at the military's inability to halt a 5-year-old insurgency by Boko Haram.

Garba Alhaji, the father of one of the injured students, told the AP there was no proper security at the school.

"I strongly blame the Yobe state government for not fencing the college," he said.

He said that three months ago a bomb was discovered in the school and removed by an anti-bomb squad.

Musa Ibrahim Yahaya, 17, speaking to the AP from the hospital where he was being treated for head wounds, said: "We were waiting for the principal to address us, around 7:30 a.m., when we heard a deafening sound and I was blown off my feet. People started screaming and running. I saw blood all over my body."

On Nov. 3, a number of people were killed in a suicide bombing in the same city, when suspected Boko Haram militants attacked a religious procession of moderate Muslims.

The group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, dashed hopes for the release of 200 kidnapped girls this month, denying reports of a truce with the government.