The curfew in Mubi was in place from 1500-0600, but many residents remained indoors throughout the day.
The attack came days after dozens of people with suspected links to the Boko Haram militant group were arrested in the town.
Most of the dead were students called out by name by the gunmen, police said.
That has caused some people to link the killings to a student union election dispute at Federal Polytechnic Mubi.
The establishment has been closed and some students fled the town on Tuesday, many with tree branches over their cars - a traditional sign of neutrality in Nigeria.
While Adamawa state police said the attackers had inside knowledge, they added that the motive for the attack was not yet clear.
Boko Haram has not yet commented on the attacks. It is fighting to establish Islamic law in Nigeria and has killed more than 1,000 people in numerous attacks across northern and central areas this year.
Some of the dead in Mubi were Muslim while others were Christian; two security guards and an elderly resident were among the victims, police said.
Accounts of the several-hour attack late on Monday night vary - one local resident said at least 40 people had been shot dead or stabbed - and a recent attack by Boko Haram militants on mobile phone masts in the area make it hard to get information from Mubi.
But reports suggest men in military uniform entered a hall of residence outside the main campus shortly before midnight, gathered the students outside their rooms and ordered them to say their names.
Some were shot dead and others stabbed with knives, and their bodies left in lines outside the buildings.
Mubi is in Adamawa state, which has a mixed Muslim and Christian population and borders Borno state, where Boko Haram came to prominence in 2009, staging an uprising in the capital, Maiduguri.
No comments:
Post a Comment