GSS Damaturu Attacks: Students Narrate ‘Nasty’ Ordeal In Hands Of Gunmen

Some students of Government Secondary School, Damaturu, on Tuesday narrated how they were attacked by suspected insurgents on Sunday night.
It would be recalled that seven students and two teachers lost their lives in the attack.
Some students said they had to jump out of their hostels through the window to run to safety.
Narrating their ordeal, the students said they noticed suspicious movements when the insurgents stormed the school at night, using torch-lights tied to their foreheads.
“Initially, we mistook them for army personnel on routine patrol but when they started shooting at random, we ran out of the school. Unfortunately, we could not call the JTF because there was no telecommunication service,” a student said.
He said that they were also scared of reaching a check-point close to the school along Gashua Road for fear of the security operatives mistaking them for the insurgents.

Another student said: “The idea of going to the security men at the checkpoint occurred to us but we were scared of being mistaken for the attackers and may be shot by the security men. So, we stayed back at our hide-outs”.
Following the experience, some students said they would leave the school.
“I am not sure of coming back to this school because of this nasty experience. The memory will continue to haunt me if I come back,” the student said.
Meanwhile, residents of Damaturu maintain that had telecommunication services been restored as clamoured for by residents in states under emergency rule, they would have been able to provide security operatives with useful information.
“This unfortunate incident at the secondary school could have been averted or checked if there was telephone service.
“The security operatives would have been alerted on phone when residents noticed suspicious movements of the attackers,” a resident said. (NAN)