A 10-year-old boy was killed yesterday when an assailant fired a grenade at an Islamic school in the central Nigerian city of Jos, an area plagued by sectarian violence, officials and residents said.

Witnesses described a man dressed in red firing what appeared to be a rocket launcher at the school in the Bukuru area of Jos.

“An Islamic school was the target of the attack,” said Pam Ayuba, the spokesman for the governor of Plateau State, where Jos is the capital.

Police spokesman Emmanuel Abuh said the assailant fired a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) from the Jero road that runs adjacent to the school and marks an informal dividing line between a Muslim and Christian neighbourhood in the southern part of Jos.

“A 10-year-old boy was hit on the head... and he died,” said Mr Abuh, adding that the attacker successfully fled the scene.

The victim was a bystander and not enrolled at the school, where students were studying for exams when they came under attack, according to locals.

A resident of the targeted area said a lone attacker stood on the street outside the school as he fired.

“The missile deflected and hit the wall of the school, killing” the boy, resident Murtala Abdullahi told AFP.

The school, Nurul Islam, is a seminary that combines secular, Western-style education with an Islamic curriculum. Two weeks ago, a bomb discovered there was defused before it exploded, Mr Abdullahi and other residents said.

Military spokesman Salihu Mustapha told AFP the school attack happened at 10.30 a.m., adding that the ability of a civilian to obtain a military-grade weapon like an RPG was worrying.

“That is now something that we have to look into,” he said. “It is not good at all.”