At least 48 students have been killed in a blast at a high school in the northeast Nigerian city of Potiskum on Monday, according to latest reports.
Approximately 2,000 students were gathering for a morning assembly at the Government Technical Science College, when the explosion occured. According to a local morgue attendant, 48 bodies have been brought to the hospital so far, all of them appearing to be between the ages of 11 and 20 years old.
Survivors of the blast say the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber dressed in school uniform, with Islamic militant group Boko Haram suspected of carrying out the attack.
Military officials who arrived at the scene were reportedly chased away by locals who were angered by the government’s inability to deal with the Boko Haram insurgency.
Potiskum was the site of a suicide bomb attack one week ago, also suspected to have been carried out by Boko Haram. A Muslim religious procession was attacked, killing 30 people.