Boko Haram terrorists stormed a college in northeastern Nigeria and shot dead around as many as 50 male students, some of whom were murdered in their sleep, others who were shot in the back as they tried to flee the carnage.

This happened at the College of Agriculture in Yobe state in northeastern Nigeria, where Boko Haram is trying to establish an Islamic state under a draconian interpretation of sharia law.  The region is under a state of emergency because of repeat massacres carried out by the Islamists.

College officials say security forces are still sorting out the campus, which was partially torched by the Islamists, and bodies re still being recovered.  About 1,000 surviving students fled the campus.

President Goodluck Jonathan ordered a military operation against Boko Haram in May, and for a while violence was down.  But the militants regrouped and revenge attacks have been frequent revenge attacks on civilians, mostly at schools.