Updated:- 23 killed in Yobe as explosion rocks morning assembly

At least 23 dead in NE Nigeria school blast, rescue worker said at an
explosion that ripped through a school in northeast Nigeria on Monday,
as students gathered for morning assembly before classes began, a
teacher and a medic told AFP.
The blast happened at the Government Comprehensive Senior Science
Secondary School in Potiskum, Yobe state, as students waited to hear
the principal's daily address.
"At the moment, we have 23 dead bodies in the hospital and 72 other
students injured in the blast," a rescue worker said in an account
supported by a Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps member
"The students had gathered for the morning assembly when something
exploded in their midst with a thunderous sound‎ at exactly 7:50 am
(0650 GMT)," said one teacher, who asked not to be identified.
"The explosion has affected many students but I can't say how many
because we are now evacuating the victims to the hospital which is
just 100 metres (yards) away," the teacher added, sobbing.
A medic at the Potiskum General Hospital where the victims were taken
said scores of students had been admitted.
"We are still receiving casualties from the school which is a stone's
throw from here," the medic said.
"Our priority now is to save the injured, so we have not started a
headcount of the victims."
A local resident, Adamu Alkassim, said there was confusion in and
around the school but the scene was a mass of abandoned footwear and
blood.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but Boko
Haram militants are likely to be the prime suspects.
The group, which wants to create a hardline Islamic state in northern
Nigerian, has previously carried out deadly attacks on schools
teaching a so-called Western curriculum since 2009.
In February, gunmen killed at least 40 students when they opened fire
on students and threw explosives into the dormitory of a government
boarding school in Buni Yadi, also in Yobe state.
In July last year 42 students were killed when Boko Haram gunmen
attacked dormitories with guns and explosives in a government boarding
school in the village of Mamudo, near Potiskum.
Potiskum, the commercial hub of Yobe state, has been repeatedly
targeted by deadly attacks blamed on Boko Haram.
Just last week, at least 15 people were killed in a suicide bomb
attack targeting a Shia religious ceremony in the city.
Yobe is one of three northeastern states that has been under a state
of emergency since May last year to try to quell the bloody
insurgency.
But violence has continued unabated and Boko Haram has seized at least
two dozen towns and villages in recent months, raising fears of the
government's ability to control the region.
Source- Vanguard