Nigerian 'student cult' kills 17

At least 17 people were killed and several injured when members of a secret student society opened fire with guns at a university in south-eastern Nigeria, according press reports.

The attack, which took place last Saturday, only emerged on Wednesday.

There are estimated to be more than 20 such secret societies in Nigeria, and hundreds of people have been killed in attacks carried out by such groups over the last decade.

Eyewitnesses told The Vanguard newspaper that in the latest violence, a "secret cult" attacked students at the university of Nsukka in Enugu state, one of Nigeria's largest with about 10,000 students.

They said the assault, on engineering students taking examinations, went on for several hours before police intervened.

'Link to organised crime'

Most of the victims are students, but they also include bystanders and at least two lecturers.

Police say two students have been arrested, and the university has been closed indefinitely.

Officials at the university blamed the attack on an unnamed university secret society believed to be targeting members of a rival student group.

Secret student societies have been accused of many murders, mutilations, rapes and other types of violence.

Although many suspect that these groups are in fact a facade for drug trafficking and other crimes on university campuses, police have not succeeded in disbanding them, the Spanish news agency EFE reports.

Police are allowed onto campuses only when invited by the university authorities, who generally prefer to use their own security measures to try to keep order.