POTISKUM: A suicide bomber disguised in uniform detonated explosives at a high school assembly on Monday in the Nigerian city of Potiskum, killing at least 48 students.

Soldiers rushed to the scene in the capital of Yobe state, but they were chased away by a crowd throwing stones and shouting that they are angry at the military’s inability to halt a five-year-old extremist insurgency that has killed thousands and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes.

A suicide bombing in the same city killed 30 people last week, when suspected Boko Haram fighters attacked a religious procession.

The state government ordered the immediate closure of all government schools in the area.

About 2,000 students had gathered in the morning for the weekly assembly at the Government Technical Science College when the explosion blasted through the school hall, according to survivors. “We were waiting for the principal to address us, around 7.30am, 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,” 17-year-old student Musa Ibrahim Yahaya said from the general hospital, where he was being treated for head wounds.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the bombing and expressed outrage at “the frequency and brutality of attacks against educational institutions in the north”, According to UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq, he demanded an immediate halt to “these abominable crimes” and called for the perpetrators to be swiftly brought to justice and adequate security measures to protect civilians.

“These repeated and relentless attacks on children and schools are attacks on the future of Nigeria, a country that already has the largest number of children out of school in the world,” the UN children’s Fund said.

Hospital records showed 48 bodies and many limbs were brought to the morgue and 79 students were admitted. Health workers said they included serious injuries that might require amputations. The hospital was so overcrowded that some patients were two to a bed.

A morgue attendant said the victims all appeared to be between the ages of 11 and 20.

Potiskum had one of the biggest cattle markets in Africa and a booming grain market that attracted traders from neighbouring countries before Yobe and two adjoining states were put under a state of military emergency in May last year. Governor Ibrahim Gaidam said he was heartbroken by the loss of life, and failure of emergency rule. “Instead of forcing insurgents and criminals to flee, the insurgents are forcing innocent people to flee and making life miserable,” he said.

He said President Goodluck Jonathan, who is running for re-election in February, owed an urgent explanation to people living under a state of emergency while attacks increased.

Survivors said the bomber apparently hid the explosives in a type of backpack popular with students.

Months ago, Nigeria’s military reported finding a bomb factory where explosives were being sewn into backpacks in the northern city of Kano.

Garba Alhaji, father of one of the wounded students, said the school didn’t have proper security. “I strongly blame the Yobe state government for not fencing the college,” he said, adding that just three months ago a bomb was discovered in the school and removed by an anti-bomb squad. Mr Jonathan’s government also had promised more security for schools.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2014