Sources have disclosed how a suicide bomber had disguised himself as a student and sneaked into the Government Senior Science Secondary School, Potiskum during the morning Assembly and detonated a bomb which left 47 students dead and 79 others injured in the morning of Monday, November 10, 2014.
An obviously traumatised teacher who spoke with the press, but wished not to be named because of his safety, said the bomb went off from the bag of a young boy who walked up to the assembly ground after an unidentified car dropped him off at the gate of the school at about 7:30am.
The suicide bomber had a heavy bag hung to his shoulder and wore a white shirt on a black trouser which was the official uniform for the senior students, said the source.
The source said, “Many of us sighted him as he was dropped off by the car and watched how he confidently walked up to the assembly ground pretending to be one of the students”, said the teacher. “But unfortunately, he was immediately spotted by one of the duty teachers who noticed his odd appearance amongst other students, by carrying a bag to the assembly ground, even though the school is a boarding school.”
“The teacher on duty called his attention, asking him why he had to bring his bag to the assembly ground, but the bomber remained silent, ignoring the teacher. His attitude towards the teacher drew the attention of other students who milled around him to find out who he was. The teacher then moved closer to him, thinking he might be a new student on transfer since most of the students could not recognise him.
In the course of the interrogation according to the source,the teachers ordered the suicide bomber to kneel down as punishment for ignoring them in such a rude manner.
“It was during the process of asking him to observe the punishment of kneeling down that the explosive in the bag went off and unfortunately killed many of the students including the teacher who had inched closer to the scene to see what was happening,” explained the source.
Expressing his joy and gratitude to God that he survived, the source said, “I thank God that I am alive; but the deafening sound of the bomb affected my auditory system for several hours”, added the source. “Even from the distance that I stood before the blast, I found myself sprawling on the ground after the blast; that made me believe that the blast might have come from a huge explosive device.”
Following the incident, the state government had indefinitely shut down all schools within and around Potiskum town.
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