UPDATE-Death toll rises to 78 in Yobe student attack

The death toll at the College of Agriculure, Gujba ,Yobe State has risen to 78. At least 50 of them were students who were attacked in the early hours of yesterday morning as they slept in their hostel. Some were shot, others were butchered with swords and knives.

The gunmen, suspected to be Boko Haram sect members later moved to houses around the hostel, killing residents they find.

Then they blocked the Damaturu-Maiduguri road and killed travellers. So far, 78 bodies have been counted, with many more people still unaccounted for. A student of the college who survived the massacre explained what happened.

"They started gathering students into groups outside, then they opened fire and killed one group and then moved onto the next group and killed them. 

It was so terrible. They came with guns around 1a.m. 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.”

The gunmen stormed the hostels in two double-cabin pickup all-terrain vehicles and on motorcycles, and were dressed in military camouflage. They attacked 4 male hostels but avoided the only hostel reserved for girls. Swords and knives were used to kill at least 30 male students. Some corpses that were found were without heads while others had heads hanging to the bodies. Wailing parents and relatives were at the Sani Abacha Specialist Hospital mortuary in Damaturu this morning to identify their loved ones. This can't continue. This government has to do something about the situation.