Nigeria: At least 26 college students killed in attack in Mubi town

GlobalPost

At least 26 people, most of them college students, have been killed in an attack in the northeastern Nigerian town of Mubi, in Adamawa state.

Reuters quoted a college spokesman as saying that at least 26 people were killed, while the Associated Press said 27 victims were shot and stabbed in the attack.

The AP said the violence began late night Monday and continued into early Tuesday morning at a student residence near the campus of the Federal Polytechnic Mubi. The college was closed Tuesday.

Yushua Shuaib, spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency, told Reuters that it was not immediately clear whether the attack was by Boko Haram, or the result of a dispute between rival political groups at the college, which recently had a student election.

More from GlobalPost: Nigeria’s Boko Haram gets serious

On Saturday, three students were killed outside a university campus in the nearby city of Maiduguri, the AP noted.

According to Reuters, Boko Haram, the Islamist sect waging a war of terror in northern Nigeria, usually targets politicians or security forces, but has attacked students before.

The BBC said the attack comes just days after a major operation against Boko Haram in Mubi town.

Boko Haram, which means “Western education is a sin,” says it wants to impose Sharia law in Nigeria. The group has been waging an increasingly violent campaign against the Nigerian government since 2009. 

More from GlobalPost: Can China save Nigeria?

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