Suspected Islamic extremists have gunned down dozens of students as they slept in their dormitories during a night-time attack on an agricultural college in north-east Nigeria, the school's provost said, according to the Guardian.

As many as 50 students may have been killed in the assault that began at about 1am local time on Sunday, Sept 29, said Molima Idi Mato, provost of the Yobe State College of Agriculture in Gujba.

"They attacked our students while they were sleeping, they opened fire at them," he said, but could not give an exact death toll as security forces still were recovering bodies from the college.

The Nigerian military had collected 42 bodies and transported 18 injured students to Damaturu specialist hospital, according to a military intelligence official.

The school's other 1,000 students fled the college, about 25 miles (40km) north of Damaturu town, where there have been similar attacks on schools as part of a continuing Islamist uprising, said Mato.

He said there were no security forces stationed at the college despite government assurances that they would be deployed. The state education chief, Mohammed Lamin, held a news conference two weeks ago in which he urged all schools to reopen and promised protection from soldiers and police.

Most schools in the area closed after militants on July 6 killed 29 pupils and a teacher, burning some alive in their hostels, at Mamudo, outside Damaturu.