Naija News

At least 20 people, mostly students, have been killed by unknown
gunmen in Mubi, north-eastern Nigeria, officials say.

Most of the dead are said to have attended the Federal Polytechnic Mubi.

A college spokesman said 26 students had been killed, while a local
resident told the BBC that more than 40 people had been shot dead or
stabbed.

The killings come days after a major operation against the Boko Haram
militant group in the town.

National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Yushua Shuaib told the
Reuters news agency that it was not clear whether the attack was the
work of Boko Haram, or the result of a dispute between rival political
groups at the university.

A Red Cross official said at least 10 people had died, reports the AFP
news agency.

BBC Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says mobile phone masts in the
area were recently attacked by the militants, so getting information
from Mubi is difficult.
'Everybody is scared'

A resident, who did not want his name to be used, told the BBC's Hausa
service that men in military uniform went to a hall of residence away
from the campus just before midnight, got the students out of their
rooms and ordered them to say their names.

Some were then shot dead and others stabbed with knives, and their
bodies left in lines outside the buildings.
map

He said it is not clear why some were killed and others spared - some
of the dead were Muslims and others Christian.

"Everybody is scared," he said.

He added that students were now leaving the town, many with tree
branches over their cars - a traditional sign of neutrality in
Nigeria.

Other Mubi residents say they heard gunfire for about two hours during
the night and that those living near the hostel were also targeted.

The authorities have imposed an indefinite curfew in the town and
ordered residents to stay indoors.

The university has been temporarily closed.

Last week, the Nigerian military carried out an operation in Mubi and
arrested dozens of people over suspected links to Boko Haram.

Mubi is in Adamawa state, which has a mixed Muslim and Christian
population and borders Borno state, where Boko Haram came to
prominence in 2009, staging an uprising in the state capital,
Maiduguri.

Boko Haram has not yet commented on the Mubi attacks.

It is fighting to establish Islamic law in Nigeria and has killed more
than 1,000 people in numerous attacks across northern and central
areas this year.