Thirteen people have been arrested after four Nigerian students accused of stealing were beaten and burnt alive.
A horrific video of the killings was posted on the YouTube video-sharing website.
One of those arrested was a traditional ruler in the Aluu community of Port Harcourt, police said, urging students from the University of Port Harcourt (Uniport) not to seek revenge.
The students had been accused of stealing laptops and mobile phones.
The video shows four men stripped naked, with tyres around their necks, being beaten by a mob with wooden sticks, before being set on fire.
One of their classmates, Paul Irabor, said that the four had left the university campus in Nigeria's oil capital (Portharcourt) to collect some money they were owed, when they were mistaken for thieves.
Rivers state police spokesman Ben Ugwuegbulam confirmed the incident.
"The Rivers state police command is strongly opposed to such barbaric conduct, and has commenced diligent investigation into the matter," he said.
He added that the video was forming part of the investigation.
Nigerians are disillusioned with the police force, sometimes take justice into their own hands and lynch suspected robbers but the brutality - and the fact this incident was filmed and published on the internet - is shocking to the country.
Monday, 8 October 2012
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
Federal Polytechnic Mubi students killed
Some 25 people, mostly students, have been killed by unknown gunmen in Mubi, north-eastern Nigeria, police say.
Police spokesman Mohammed Ibrahim told the BBC that 22 were students, whom the attackers had called out by name.
A local resident said at least 40 people had been shot dead or stabbed.
The killings come days after a major operation against the Boko Haram militant group in the town, while others have linked them to a dispute over student union elections.
It was reported that rivalries over student elections have turned violent before but have never reached this level.
He says mobile phone masts in the area were recently attacked by Boko Haram militants, so getting information from Mubi is difficult.
'Everybody is scared'
The Adamawa state police spokesman, who had just visited the scene, said investigations were under way and the motive for the attack was not yet clear.
But he said the attackers had inside knowledge: "The attackers called the victims by name and killed them."
Mr Ibrahim said two of the dead were security guards and the other an elderly resident.
A resident, who did not want his name to be used, said that men in military uniform went to a hall of residence away from the Federal Polytechnic Mubi campus just before midnight, got the students out of their rooms and ordered them to say their names.
Some were then shot dead and others stabbed with knives, and their bodies left in lines outside the buildings.
He said it is not clear why some were killed and others spared - some of the dead were Muslims and others Christian. "Everybody is scared," he said, adding that the shooting lasted for about two hours.
He added that students were now leaving the town, many with tree branches over their cars - a traditional sign of neutrality in Nigeria.
The authorities have imposed an indefinite curfew in the town and ordered residents to stay indoors.
The university has been temporarily closed.
Last week, the Nigerian military carried out an operation in Mubi and arrested dozens of people over suspected links to Boko Haram.
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 state capital, Maiduguri.
Boko Haram has not yet commented on the Mubi 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.
Police spokesman Mohammed Ibrahim told the BBC that 22 were students, whom the attackers had called out by name.
A local resident said at least 40 people had been shot dead or stabbed.
The killings come days after a major operation against the Boko Haram militant group in the town, while others have linked them to a dispute over student union elections.
It was reported that rivalries over student elections have turned violent before but have never reached this level.
He says mobile phone masts in the area were recently attacked by Boko Haram militants, so getting information from Mubi is difficult.
'Everybody is scared'
The Adamawa state police spokesman, who had just visited the scene, said investigations were under way and the motive for the attack was not yet clear.
But he said the attackers had inside knowledge: "The attackers called the victims by name and killed them."
Mr Ibrahim said two of the dead were security guards and the other an elderly resident.
A resident, who did not want his name to be used, said that men in military uniform went to a hall of residence away from the Federal Polytechnic Mubi campus just before midnight, got the students out of their rooms and ordered them to say their names.
Some were then shot dead and others stabbed with knives, and their bodies left in lines outside the buildings.
He said it is not clear why some were killed and others spared - some of the dead were Muslims and others Christian. "Everybody is scared," he said, adding that the shooting lasted for about two hours.
He added that students were now leaving the town, many with tree branches over their cars - a traditional sign of neutrality in Nigeria.
The authorities have imposed an indefinite curfew in the town and ordered residents to stay indoors.
The university has been temporarily closed.
Last week, the Nigerian military carried out an operation in Mubi and arrested dozens of people over suspected links to Boko Haram.
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 state capital, Maiduguri.
Boko Haram has not yet commented on the Mubi 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.
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