Government in Yobe, Nigeria is forced to close schools after a shooting killed 42 students and a teacher last Saturday.
Yobe governor Ibrahim Geidam announced the boarding school will be closed until September. Prior to the shooting, the school was scheduled to close in August for the holiday, UPI reports.
“The closure is to allow the state government in collaboration with the Joint Security Task Force and community leaders to evaluate and evolve better and additional strategies that would ensure the safety and security of students and their teachers,” said the spokesman for the government office Abdullahi Bego.
The gunmen suspected in the attack are believed to be part of the Boko Haram Islamists, a terrorist group. According to AFP, the gunmen took the students in a dormitory before throwing explosives inside then opened fired.
In a report, the attack started around 5:30 a.m., while the students were still asleep. At least six students were able to escape and are in the hospital.
This is not the first attack on schools. In the past year, 205 schools were burnt down. Yobe and two other states are in a state of emergency due to Boko Haram.