Maiduguri, Nigeria:
Suspected Islamists shot dead nine students as they sat an exam in an attack on a private school in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria, local people said Tuesday.
The attack, in a region that is a stronghold of the Islamist rebel group Boko Haram, happened on Monday in the Jajeri suburb of the city, they said.
Mohammed Saleh, a relative of one of the deceased students, said school officials had told him that the attack happened soon after the end-of-year exam had started.
"Nine of the students died instantly," he said, blaming members of Boko Haram.
David Buba, a student at the school who was on the premises when the attack happened, told AFP he had lost a friend in the attack.
"I was within the school premises on Monday afternoon when I started hearing gunshots," he said.
"I initially thought it was outside the school but when I saw people running, I was confused and hid somewhere in fear until 30 minutes later when corpses of our students were brought out of the exam hall."
A security force spokesman could not be reached to confirm the attack.
Overnight Sunday to Monday, suspected Boko Haram gunmen opened fire on a secondary school in Damaturu, in the neighbouring state of Yobe to the west, killing seven students and two teachers.
Two of the attackers were also killed, said the army.
Boko Haram, whose name roughly translates as "Western education is sin," has carried out multiple attacks on schools in violence-torn northeast Nigeria.
The group has said it is fighting to create an Islamic state in the country's mainly Muslim north.
The attack, in a region that is a stronghold of the Islamist rebel group Boko Haram, happened on Monday in the Jajeri suburb of the city, they said.
Mohammed Saleh, a relative of one of the deceased students, said school officials had told him that the attack happened soon after the end-of-year exam had started.
"Nine of the students died instantly," he said, blaming members of Boko Haram.
David Buba, a student at the school who was on the premises when the attack happened, told AFP he had lost a friend in the attack.
"I was within the school premises on Monday afternoon when I started hearing gunshots," he said.
"I initially thought it was outside the school but when I saw people running, I was confused and hid somewhere in fear until 30 minutes later when corpses of our students were brought out of the exam hall."
A security force spokesman could not be reached to confirm the attack.
Overnight Sunday to Monday, suspected Boko Haram gunmen opened fire on a secondary school in Damaturu, in the neighbouring state of Yobe to the west, killing seven students and two teachers.
Two of the attackers were also killed, said the army.
Boko Haram, whose name roughly translates as "Western education is sin," has carried out multiple attacks on schools in violence-torn northeast Nigeria.
The group has said it is fighting to create an Islamic state in the country's mainly Muslim north.
