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PART III — COUNTRY PROFILeSThen, in January 2012, Boko Haram leader AbubakarShekau was reported to have issued a chilling threatvia an internet audio message stating: ‘You haveprimary schools as well, you have secondary schoolsand universities and we will start bombing them….That is what we will do.’ This caused fear amongparents, many of whom were reported to have stoppedsending their children to school. 1162 From January toMarch 2012, Boko Haram claimed responsibility forthe damage and destruction of 12 schools in andaround Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, citingretribution for state security force attacks on aTsangaya (Koranic) school and the arrest of Koranicstudents in January 2012. 1163 At least 5,000 childrenwere unable to attend classes as a result, 1164 in a statewith one of the country’s lowest primary school attendancerates. 1165 The methods of attack varied andincluded burning buildings and using explosives. Allof the attacks occurred at night or in the early morningwhen schools were vacant, and in several cases,watchmen were tied up or held at gunpoint to preventtheir intervention. The schools targeted were eithernon-denominational or provided both Western andIslamic education. 1166In May 2012, suspected Boko Haram militants usedexplosives and gunfire to attack two primary schoolsin the northern city of Kano. 1167 From September toNovember 2012, according to media sources, at leasta dozen more primary and secondary schools inMaiduguri, Damaturu, Zaria, Barkin Ladi, Potiskumand Fika were set on fire or damaged by explosives,including in attacks by Boko Haram, but also duringfighting between Boko Haram and state securityforces, or in clashes between Muslims andChristians. 1168Attacks on school students, teachers and othereducation personnelPrior to 2011, and in contrast with attacks on schools,most attacks on school students, teachers andpersonnel involved kidnapping for ransom andappeared to be carried out for criminal rather thanpolitical objectives. For example, in Abia state, in thesouth-east, a school bus carrying 15 nursery andprimary school students to the Abayi InternationalSchool was hijacked in September 2010. 1169 Similarly,a head teacher at a primary school funded byExxonMobil in Eket, also in the south-east, wasabducted in October 2010. 1170Some shootings also occurred in the north, includingat a military-run secondary school near Kano inDecember 2011, which left four air force personneldead and two injured, but the perpetrators andmotives were unknown. 1171 Similarly, another shootingresulted in the death of the head teacher of theGovernment Day Secondary School in Potiskum, Yobestate, in October 2012. According to a witness, whenhe discovered the head teacher’s occupation, one ofthe gunmen said: ‘You are the type of people we arelooking for.’ 1172Later, in 2013, militants began targeting students andteachers (see Attacks on education in 2013 below).In addition, one incident appeared to be linked toBoko Haram: the killing of Sheik Bashir Mustapha, aprominent Muslim cleric critical of Boko Haram, andone of his students, while he was teaching in his homein October 2010. 1173Attacks on higher educationAttacks on higher education facilitiesBoko Haram was believed to be responsible for aseries of threats to, and bombings of, universities in2011-2012. In July 2011, during a spate of Boko Haramattacks in Maiduguri, officials shut the campus ofMaiduguri University after receiving an anonymousletter warning that the student senate and examinationsand records buildings would be burned down. 1174Hours later, two lecturers were reportedly killed duringclashes that took place between Boko Haram andmilitary forces near the campus. 1175 In September 2011,at least 15 universities reportedly received an emailmessage from Boko Haram, warning them that theircampuses were on a target list for bombings. 1176 BokoHaram also claimed responsibility for bomb attacks onuniversities in Kano and Gombe in late April 2012. 1177The attack in Kano took place at Bayero University,where around 20 people were killed by explosives andgunfire while worshipping at two Christian churchservices on campus, one held indoors and the otheroutdoors; at Gombe University, a building wasbombed but no one was injured. 1178166