A suicide attack at a school in northeastern Nigeria has left almost 50 people dead and has reignited popular anger toward the government for its inability to curb the attacks against schools and towns. Though no one has claimed responsibility, it is believed Boko Haram conducted the attack.

The attack happened Monday morning at around 8 a.m. as students gathered for a school assembly at a high school in Potiskum, reports the Los Angeles Times. The town is located in Nigeria's Yobe state, one of the state's targeted by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.

Dressed in a school uniform, the suicide bomber managed to infiltrate the school and detonate himself, killing 48 people in the blast.

"We were waiting for the principal to address us, around 7:30 a.m., when we heard a deafening sound and I was blown off my feet, people started screaming and running, I saw blood all over my body," Musa Ibrahim Yahaya, a 17-year-old student, told The Associated Press.

Spokesman for the Nigerian national police, Emmanuel Ojukwu, told Reuters that the explosion was caused "by a suicide bomber," according to USA Today.

"We have 47 dead and 79 injured," Ojukwu said.

The attacked happened at the Government Technical Science College, and Ojukwu laid the blame for the attack with Boko Haram though the group has not claimed responsibility.

The Associated Press confirmed the number of casualties at 79 students, according to hospital records. Some are so severely wounded they may need amputations. All the victims are between the ages of 11 and 20.

Parents and local residents have expressed their anger at the government as well as Boko Haram for the attack.

"I strongly blame the Yobe state government for not fencing the college," said Garba Alhaji, father of one of the wounded students, adding that a bomb had been discovered three months ago at the school but was defused.

According to Bloomberg, the Yobe state governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, also demanded answers from Lagos and ordered the closing of all schools in the Potiskum area.

"It is not just enough for the federal government to condemn the almost daily rounds of violence," spokesman Abdullahi Bego said in the statement. "[Gaidam] believes urgent action must be taken right now to restore a fast waning public confidence by doing whatever it takes to stop the escalating violence."

For more than five years Boko Haram has orchestrated attacks in northeastern Nigeria, including the kidnapping of more than 200 girls earlier this year.

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