The Nation Newspaper

Tag: bomb explosion

  • Yola blast: IGP places CPs on red alert

    Yola blast: IGP places CPs on red alert

    The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, has placed Command Commissioners of Police (CPs) on red alert following the blast that occurred at a Police Divisional Headquarters in Yola.

    Bombs retrieved from Boko Haram were said to have exploded accidentally at the Police Anti-bomb Squad Office in Jimeta, Yola, the Adamawa State capital.

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), confirmed through a statement that  four people died while scores of policemen  injured.

    The IGP who commiserated with families of the victims has directed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Department of Operations, DIG Sontoye Wakama, to visit the scene of the blast.

    DIG Wakama is expected to condole with the families of the deceased and to ensure that those that sustained injuries from the explosion receive prompt medical attention.

    This is contained in a statement in Abuja by the Force Spokesperson, Olabisi Kolawole.

    According to the statement; “The Nigeria Police Force High Command has directed adequate security surveillance on places where Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) recovered and kept to ensure such incident does not occur in anywhere across the country.

    “The IGP has also directed all Commands’ Commissioners of Police to deploy Anti-Bomb Squad personnel of their respective State Commands to inspect all explosive elements kept in their armories to ensure they are safe, to forestall re-occurrence of the unfortunate incident.”

    The police boss who called for calm urged members of the public to go about their normal businesses without fear as all hands are on deck to ensure their safety at all times.

  • Abandoned IEDs explodes in Edo

    Abandoned IEDs explodes in Edo

    Some Improvised Explosive Devices known as IEDs believed to have been abandoned by kidnappers and notorious criminals Tuesday exploded in Edo State.

    The incident occurred at house number 40 at about 2pm at Zomi street off Upper Sakponba road in Ikpoba Okha local government area.

    Residents who were at home when the explosion occurred said they heard a loud sound that shook their houses.

    The explosion shattered windows of houses in the area.

    Two persons were seriously injured in the blast but no live was lost.

    It was gathered that policemen recently raided the house looking for kidnappers.

    Some said the house was used as the kidnappers hideout before police swooped on them and some of them ran away.

    A 70-year woman living opposite the building who gave her name as Hannah said she heard a large sound.

    A tenant in the building who gave his name as Chinedu Elue when the explosion occurred said he decided to do some cleaning after an electrician came to work in his apartment.

    He said he went out to buy ice cream after setting fire on some dirt when he heard explosion.

    Chinedu said he recently moved into the apartment and that another family living in the house was not at home.

    Men of anti-bomb squad led by DCP Musa UBA detonated other explosives found in the compound.

    Residents in the area stood at a distance and watched in fear.

    Inside the building, the place where the bomb exploded left hole on the ground.

  • Update: Seven die, 13 injured in Yola IDPs camp blast

    The Adamawa Government confirmed that seven people died and 13 were injured in an explosion that occurred at the Malkohi Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp near Yola, on Friday morning.

    The state Commissioner for Information, Malam Ahmad Sajoh, confirmed the incident to newsmen after a visit to the Federal Medical Centre, Yola, where the injured persons were receiving treatment.

    Sajoh said four officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) were among the injured persons.

    He also said another blast was reported in Madagali, but that the casualty figure was still unknown.

    “I just got the report of another blast in Madagali but as I speak to you, I am still trying to get the actual picture of the situation.

    “I got the report from officials of the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA),” Sajoh said.

    He said the state government would foot the bill of all those injured in the Malkohi incident.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that following the Malkohi blast, security operatives have commenced fresh screening of all IDPs at the camp.

    All the IDPs where gathered in one section of the camp as policemen, soldiers and other officials of the camp embarked on the screening.

    The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Gabriel Adaji, who spoke on the development, said security had been beefed up at the camp to forestall a reoccurrence.

    Adaji said it was possible that the persons that came with the explosive that rocked the camp joined the IDPs that were brought to the camp on Thursday night from Madagali.

    “We suspect one of those IDPs that came newly; possibly they beat the security checks to cause this mayhem.

    “It is unfortunate. We are now trying our best to see that such incident does not happen again,” he said.

    The NEMA Camp Coordinator in Adamawa, Mr. Saad Bello, confirmed that a total of 298 IDPs from Madagali and 17 from Sambisa forest were brought to the camp on Thursday night.

  • Boko Haram kill 30 traders in Borno

    Boko Haram kill 30 traders in Borno

    Not fewer than 30 innocent traders have been reportedly killed by bomb explosions at a local market in Borno state, local vigilante sources disclosed.

    A resident of Askira Uba who escaped from the market during the attack narrated that a suicide bomber suspected to be Boko haram terrorist disguised as a wheelbarrow pusher at the peak of Linmakara weekly village market in Gwoza local government area of Borno state on Friday afternoon where he detonated explosives at the centre of the market killing not fewer than 30 traders with several others left with critical injuries.

    A local vigilante disclosed that, ‎” a middle age man who disguised to be pushing kuus-kuus(local wheelbarrow) detonated it at the center of the market at noon when people were busy engaged in buying and selling.

    “More than 30 traders were dead and several others injured‎ at Limakara village on Friday,” he informed.

    He also disclosed it was difficult connecting with the people from the area due to network problem.

    ‎Limakara is a remote village in southern part of Borno state and 65 kilometers to Askira-Uba.

  • How Bauchi Central Market was attacked, by association chief

    How Bauchi Central Market was attacked, by association chief

    THERE were more facts yesterday on the bomb explosion that rocked the ever- crowded Bauchi Central Market, Bauchi, the state capital, on Monday

    The explosion, which rocked the market between 5:20pm and 6:pm claimed more than ten lives and left several others injured, the chairman of the Bauchi Central Market Traders’ Association, Alhaji Adamu Musa Noma, insisted even as the Bauch Police Command said “only seven people died.”

    In an interview, Noma told The Nation that “two men, dressed in mobile police uniform without their beret on and a lady also in incomplete uniform, came to the market on Monday evening through the entrance near a bank. They bought a box and some clothing materials which they deposited in one of the shops close to the entrance into the market.

    “One of the men went outside to make a telephone call and the lady who was with them stayed back. The other, suspected to have detonated the bomb, was about leaving when the bomb exploded, killing many and wounding others. Goods, estimated at over N1 billion were destroyed.”

    According to Noma, more than 78 shops were razed in the aftermath of the explosion.

    He narrated: “Before the bomb incident, our security committee was sitting to map out strategies for decongesting the market and rearranging the parking lot.”

    Besides decongesting the market, the committee was to ensure proper parking of vehicles around the market and bar suspicious vehicles from parking near the market as pro-active security measures.

    He, however, thanked the Red Cross Society, police, army, Bauchi State Fire Service, members of Islamic Aid Group and other security operatives for their prompt response to his distress call.

    The police yesterday claimed that only seven people died in the explosion and that 25 others sustained various degrees of injures.

    In a statement, spokesman for the command Haruna Mohammed, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP said: “Three suspects have been arrested for looting while 25 others sustained various degrees of injuries, out of which three have been treated and discharged and 19 others are responding to treatment.”

    Mohammed, who said normalcy has since returned to the market, with intensified security patrols within and outside the market, informed that investigation into the explosion has begun to ascertain the cause the degree of damages.

    Meanwhile, authorities at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), has directed its personnel against granting press interview on the casualty figure.

    Governor Isa Yuguda, who   visited the injured at the teaching hospital yesterday, assured the traders that his administration will renovate the affected  market. He also  commiserated with the families of the dead.

  • Police avert explosion targeted at worshippers in Borno

    Tragedy was Friday morning averted by  Police Anti Bomb Squad at the popular Custom Market popularly known as Gamboru Market where  Improvised  Explosive Devices(IEDs) were  de-mobilized.
    Apparently, the two IEDs were planted near the market and a Juma’at mosque to kill innocent worshippers and traders a security source told The Nation.

    Witnesses informed that some shops including lock up stalls and other open shops near the market were destroyed but no life was lost in the explosion which triggered a deafening sound that sent panic in the neighbourhood.
    Abubakar Sani Audu, a trader in the market disclosed that the attention of the Civilian JTF was drawn to the discovery of the explosive who latter called the anti bomb squad to de-mobilise the explosives.
    “The civilian JTF immediately called the Anti Bomb Squad and the army. They cordoned off the area and swung into action.

    “They detonated the first blast but the impact suddenly ignited a second one which nobody knew was there. We are happy nobody was affected,”  Audu said.

    Gamboru  market is next to both size and patronage  to Monday Market within the metropolis where over 30 people were killed and several others injured on Monday this week.