Boko Harum have been accused of numerous attacks in northern Nigeria including one earlier this month in Borno state
Islamic
militants from the Boko Haram group in north-eastern Nigeria have
attacked a school and shot some students, the military has said.
Dozens of pupils are reported to have been killed. Police
told Reuters that all the dead were boys and that some of the bodies
"were burned to ashes".The attack took place in troubled Yobe state, the military said.
Residents of the town of Buni Yadi said the attackers struck at night, slitting the throats of some students.
They said that others were shot.
The military has confirmed that an attack took place on "student hostels" but says it cannot yet give further details.
"Our men are down there in pursuit of the killers," he said.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sinful" in the northern Hausa language, has frequently attacked schools in the past.
Scores of people were killed in two attacks last week. In one incident militants destroyed a whole village and shot terrified residents as they tried to escape.
The failure of the army to destroy the militants has fuelled anger in the north-east, correspondents say.
Thousands of people have been killed since 2009, when Boko Haram launched its campaign to install Islamic law.
The latest offensive ordered by President Goodluck Jonathan in May has been blamed for triggering reprisals by militants against civilians.
Addressing a news conference on Monday, the president defended the army's record, saying it had achieved some successes against Boko Haram.
He said that Nigeria was working with Cameroon to stop the militants from staging attacks in Nigeria and then escaping over the border
