Nigerian soldiers hunt for killers of 42 students

Abuja: Nigerian security forces on Thursday launched a massive manhunt to trace the perpetrators of the University killings in a northern Nigerian town where a heavy force was deployed that conducted door to door searches.

No less than 42 students were killed in Nigeria`s northern city of Mubi near the enclave of a violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram on the night of October 1 after gunmen raided hostels in the Adamawa State University. "The President has directed security agencies to investigate the matter and get to the root because this kind of incidence, where people are called out and shot is really shocking," presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati said today. The spokesman for Nigeria`s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Yushua Shuaib said it was still early to blame the killings on Boko Haram as there were dissensions among students after a union election. Violent rival cults often exist in Nigerian universities and carry out vendetta against those seen as challenging their influence. Meanwhile, a dusk-to-dawn curfew has been placed on the city though a number of students have already fled in fright from their institutions. The areas where the attacks took place have been cordoned off by members of the Nigeria police since yesterday. Residents of Mubi said the killers did not distinguish between Muslims and Christians in their attacks thereby making it difficult to see it as a sectarian attack. They told the students to identify themselves by name before shooting or cutting with knives those they wished to kill. PTI