Suspected extremists attack school in northeast Nigeria

POTISKUM, Nigeria (AP) – Suspected Boko Haram extremists are attacking a business school in northeast Nigeria where an Associated Press reporter heard gunfire and an explosion.

Soldiers and police rushed to the College of Administrative and Business Studies on Friday and a firefight was ensuing in Potiskum, in Yobe state.

It is unclear if there are casualties.

Witnesses say the attackers arrived around 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) and opened fire and that security guards ran away. They say the gunmen kept shooting as they jumped the school wall and detonated a bomb at the student dormitory. The witnesses requested anonymity because they fear reprisals.

It is the first school attack reported since a 3-month multinational offensive drove Boko Haram out of towns seized last year. Boko Haram means “Western education is sinful.”