Gunmen killed at least 25 people, mostly students of the Federal Polytechnic Mubi in Adamawa State, in an early morning raid on their hostels, security forces in the state have said.Following the incident, the polytechnic has been closed down indefinitely, even as the students had commenced their semester examination. A statement by the Dean of Students Affairs Baba Karewa announced the indefinite closure of the school.There were various accounts of the death toll but Adamawa State Police Command Spokesman Ibrahim Mohammed confirmed to our reporter on phone that 25 people were killed in the tragic incident. He also confirmed the closure of the institution.Neither the identity of the killers nor their motive was established as at press time and no group claimed responsibility for the attack.Boko Haram has launched frequent attacks in Maiduguri and, to a lesser degree, in Mubi. The sect claimed responsibility last month for the destruction of more than 30 phone towers across Nigeria's north, including Maiduguri and Mubi. Those attacks left at least two dead in Mubi, police said, and created communications chaos in a nation that relies on mobile phones.Lately their campaign has targeted mosques, churches, schools government and security buildings and, more recently, multi-million dollar telecommunications infrastructure, but targeting students and killing them so brutally is new.A high level source at the Polytechnic said yesterday's killings may not be unconnected with the outcome of a students' union election which pitched northern candidates in a bitter rivalry against students from south east.The source said, 'It was actually a post election conflict', adding that 'those who lost their lives were those who won the election.''There was a bitter rivalry between Igbo candidates in the election and northern candidates,' he said.[Related]{loadposition user31}Some students who spoke to the BBC Housa Service yesterday also linked the incident to the students' union election held last weekend.'We had Students Union Government (SUG) election on Sunday, there were two candidates (for President), one from the north, and the other from the south-east. Each one had his supporters from his region but at the end the candidate from the north won the election,' one who declined to be named told BBC.One resident who did not want his name to be used, told the BBC's Hausa service that men in military uniform went to a hall of residence away from the Federal Polytechnic Mubi campus just before midnight, got the students out of their rooms and ordered them to say their names.Some were then shot dead and others stabbed with knives, and their bodies left in lines outside the buildings.{loadposition user30}He said it was not clear why some were killed and others spared - some of the dead were Muslim while others were Christian.Some residents of Mubi put the death toll at 40. A witness, Aminu Usman said he saw 30 dead bodies being loaded into a pickup van, 'some shot in the head and chest while others had their throats slit.'Usman, who is a student of the polytechnic said he escaped death by the whiskers. 'I would have been dead by now'God saved me because I passed the night in the class preparing for examination,' he said.But police spokesman Mohammed said 25 persons were killed. '19 of those killed are students of the Polytechnic; three others from the School of Health Technology. Also killed are a security guard attached to the polytechnic, a retired military man and a civilian,' he said.When asked about the identity of the people killed, the police spokesman said, 'I can't tell you that, but full investigation has commenced to unravel the mystery.'He however disclosed that preliminary investigation has shown that the attackers trailed their victims to their abode near the school.'The assailants called most of the victims by name, which means they know them, and once they (students) answered and came out of their rooms, they were either shot or slaughtered. We are not ruling out the fact that the killing was carefully planned and executed,' he said.Ibrahim said the Adamawa State police commissioner, the director of State Security Service (SSS), the Brigade Commander of the 23rd Brigade, Yola and other top security officers have moved to Mubi town which is already tensed following the night killing.The hostels, mostly built by private developers were located at Wuro-Fatuji, a suburb in Mubi which serves as a 'village' for students of the polytechnic and others from Adamawa state University and the School of Health Technology.The dead included Muslims and Christians, witnesses said. Though no female student was killed in the attack, many of them were said to been traumatised because of the ferocity.The attack was launched while the 15-hour curfew (3pm-6am) slammed on Mubi recently as in full force.The attack was launched less than ten days after 156 suspected members of the Boko Haram sect were arrested in Mubi.Residents said life is now at a standstill in Mubi as people have imposed a 24 hour curfew on themselves.Most streets in the town were deserted yesterday while some students from the three higher institutions in the town have started fleeing because of fear of the unknown.Following repeated cases of killings in Mubi, troops of the 'Operation Restore Sanity' have been deployed to Mubi about three weeks ago.In their mop up exercise last week, which culminated in the arrest of 156 suspects, many weapons, including improved explosive devices, chemicals, over 500 daggers, AK47 assault rifles, locally made pistols, rocket launchers among others were recovered.
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