Fighters in Nigeria attack school, kill 9 pupils

Suspected Islamic militants have opened fire on students taking exams at a school in the country's troubled northeast, killing at least nine pupils in the latest violence to wrack the volatile region, witnesses said today.
Bodies of the children in their school uniforms were brought to the local morgue, according to a hospital official who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information to journalists.
Yesterday's attack at Ansarudeen Private School in Maiduguri marked the second time in days that suspected radical fighters have attacked schools.
The military reported that 13 people, including high school students and teachers, were killed on Sunday night during a five-hour shootout when extremists attacked a boarding school in Damaturu, the state capital of Yobe state.

A student who survived that attack by hiding under a dormitory bed said dozens of fighters who identified themselves as Boko Haram which means "Western education is sacrilege" ordered students to take them to the teachers' quarters, where they opened fire on teachers and students.
The student spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. Military spokesman Lt Eli Lazarus said seven students, two teachers, two soldiers and two militants were killed in the attack and that three soldiers were critically injured.
He said several militants also were captured. In another attack yesterday, suspected extremists gunned down a group of fisherman on a river bank in Alau, located 20 kilometers outside Maiduguri.

Most of the victims were relatives of people who have been arresting members of a radical Islamic sect known as Boko Haram.