A bag filled with improvised bombs discovered by operatives of youth vigilante at a deserted camp of Boko Haram near Monguno village in Borno state accidentally exploded, killing at least 63 persons, witnesses and security sources said.
The explosion, which occurred at about 5pm on Tuesday also left many persons injured.
An eyewitness and operative of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN), Haruna Bukar, told journalists on phone that a group of Civilian-JTF on patrol along Monguno-Marte route stumbled upon a bag containing metallic substances at an area where Boko Haram terrorists had once camped.
“When they found the bag containing what later turned out to be improvised explosives, they brought it to Monguno town where people gathered to take a looks at it. As they were busy fiddling with the content of the bag, the bombs went off with a massive blast that killed about 63 persons and injured dozen others”, said Haruna.
“It was really a very sad incident that affected many families. Most of those affected are young men and a few number of females”.
An officer of the VGN in Maiduguri, Abbas Gava, had also confirmed the incident to journalists.
“Initially we thought it was a Boko Haram attack as it was being rumored in the town of Maiduguri”, he said. “But when we later checked, we discovered that it was somehow an accidental explosion caused by the foolishness of the Civilian-JTF operatives who discovered such a dangerous device and refusing to call on the police of military that has the expertise to handle such things”.
A source at the state specialists hospital in Maiduguri, who spoke with Our Correspondent has confirm that they received so far, 29 corpses at the hospital while more are expected as ambulances have been dispatched for evacuation.
http://dailypost.ng/2015/06/17/boko-haram-abandoned-bombs-kill-63-in-borno/
0 comments: