Breaking news: Gunmen 'kill Mubi students'

At least 20 people, mostly
students, have been killed by
unknown gunmen in Mubi, north-
eastern Nigeria, a police source
has told the BBC.
The attack happened at a student
hostel away from the Federal
Polytechnic Mubi campus, the source
said.
A lecturer told the BBC that more
than 40 students had been killed but
there has been no official comment.
The reported killing comes days after
a major operation against the Boko
Haram militant group in the town.
The lecturer, who did not want his
name to be used, told the BBC's
Hausa service that men in military
uniform asked the students to line
up and then say their names.
Some were then shot dead and
others stabbed with knives, and their
bodies left in lines outside the
buildings.
The lecturer says it is not clear why
some were killed and others spared -
some of those killed were Muslims
and other 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.
Mobile phone masts
attacked
Last week, the Nigerian military
carried out an operation in Mubi and
arrested dozens of people over
suspected links to Boko Haram.
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, and even the
emergency services are struggling to
communicate with their staff on the
ground.
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.
Source: BBC