Night Massacre at College in Yobe State Leaves About 40 Students Dead

About 40 students schooling at college of agriculture in Gujbain, Yobe State were shot dead as they slept by suspected militants from the extremist group Boko Haram on Sunday.

Soldiers recovered 42 bodies and transported 18 wounded students to hospital, according to the latest report by AP, citing a military intelligence official, who insisted on anonymity. Earlier though, the college’s principal, Idi Mato, suggested that as many as 50 students could have been killed in the assault.

The attack is said to have began at 1am local time on Sunday.

"Boko Haram terrorists… went into the school and opened fire on students," the military spokesman in Yobe, Lazarus Eli, told AFP.

The extremists rode into the college in two double-cabin pickup all-terrain vehicles and on motorcycles, some dressed in Nigerian military uniforms, according to AP citing a surviving student, Ibrahim Mohammed. Witnesses say the extremists were apparently aware of the college layout, as they didn't attack the female dormitories .

"They came with guns around 1am (24:00 GMT) and went directly to the male hostel and opened fire on them... The college is in the bush so the other students were running around helplessly as guns went off and some of them were shot down," Ahmed Gujunba, a taxi driver who lives by the college told Reuters.

It is the extremist group's third attack on a school in Nigeria's northeastern in four months. In July, a similar assault left 41 students and an English teacher at a boarding school dead.