Arrests made in Nigerian student slaughter

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MUBI, Nigeria, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- More than 100 people have been arrested in Mubi, Nigeria, and nearby communities in the killing of 26 people, many of them students, security officials said.

Muhammad Ibrahim, a spokesman for the Adamawa State Police, said more arrests were likely and that investigators believe someone on the "inside" was involved because many of the victims were called by name before they were killed in Tuesday's slaughter at youth hostels for several post-secondary schools in the Mubi area, the Daily Trust reported Thursday.

The number of dead has varied from 26 to more than 40. A lecturer at Federal Polytechnic said more than 40 people were shot or stabbed to death at the student village of Adamawa State University, Federal Polytechnic and the School of Health Technology, all in the Mubi area.

An information official at the Federal Polytechnic confirmed 26 of its students were among those killed in the attack. The Nigerian newspaper Leadership reported earlier that least 40 bodies, mostly students, were discovered in the Wuro-Fatuji area where the schools' student living quarters are located.

"Investigation into the killings is in progress but honestly there is insider factor because majority of the victims were killed after the assailants had called them by their names," Ibrahim told the Daily Trust. "It will be wrong to say all the people arrested are guilty or are directly connected with the crime. We have many people in our custody but those found innocent would be released."

A source at Federal Polytechnic said both Muslims and Christians were identified and killed, Daily Trust said.

One lecturer said some of the victims were students who won recent student union elections at the school.