Gunmen set off bombs, open fire at college in Nigeria; 13 die

 

Two gunmen set off explosives at a Nigerian college, then started shooting -- killing at least 13 people on another day of violence in the African nation, and yet another targeting students.

Kano state police commissioner Adelere Shinaboa said the attackers got on the Federal College of Education campus in Kano after opening fire at a checkpoint. About 3:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. ET), they forced their way into a lecture hall, set off explosives and "began sporadic shooting," according to police.

The attack ended when responding police killed both assailants. Authorities recovered AK-47 rifles and unexploded bombs at the scene.

Thirteen others were also dead by then, police said, while 34 wounded were taken to a local hospital for treatment.

While it was not immediately clear who was responsible, the northern city of Kano and the surrounding area has seen more than its fair share of bloodshed in recent years at the hands of Boko Haram.

The Islamist extremist group is pushing to spread and enforce its strict interpretation of Sharia law over the territory it controls -- and showing no mercy on those who don't subscribe to its beliefs and get in its way.

Schools have been a common target, befitting a group whose name Boko Haram translates in the local Hausa language as "Western education is forbidden." The most well-known incident occurred in April, when militants abducted more than 230 schoolgirls from a school in the rural northeastern town of Chibok.