Explosive device kills 2 children, injures 5 in Adamawa

The Chairman of Hong Local Government Area in Adamawa State, Alhaji Haliru Lala, has confirmed the death of two children in a blast that occurred in Fadaman-Rake village. This is as the Nasarawa State Police Command yesterday announced the arrest of two men with suspected Improvised Explosive Device (IED). Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Yola, Lala said five others were also injured in the incident which occurred late on Thursday evening.
He said some children playing by the roadside were given a polythene bag containing explosives, which was later exploded by an unknown person riding by in a car. “In all, seven of them were affected; two died on the spot, four are on admission while one sustained minor injury and has been treated,” Lala said. In another account, a resident of the village who simply identified himself as Adamu, has said the strangers who gave the bag to the children rode in a Toyota Starlet car.
He said: “They gave one of the children the bag and told him that it was sent by his father to take home. “While taking it home with his friends, the curious boys, most of them between six and seven years, decided to open the bag before reaching home and it exploded.”
Confirming the incident, the spokesman for the state’s Police Command, SP Othman Abubakar, said the incident was the first of its kind in the area since its recovery from Boko Haram occupation in 2014. Speaking on the arrest of the two suspects in Nasarawa State, the command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Kennedy Idirisu, told the NAN in Lafia that the men were arrested in Loko Local Government Area of the state.
He explained that an Ak-47 rifle and 21 rounds of live ammunition were also recovered from the suspects following raid on their location by the Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS).“After the expiration of the period of grace, the state police command in conjunction with other sister security agencies will embark on special operation to clampdown on persons in possession of firearms illegally and prosecute them accordingly,” he added.
Idirisu also disclosed that the command had arrested 25 suspects for various offences between April and May this year, some of whom have been charged to court. “You will recall that major operations were carried out in some identified criminal hideouts within the state in the first quarter of 2017 which led to the arrest of over 50 suspected armed robbers, kidnappers and cattle rustlers. “We believe these major operational successes accounted for the drastic drop in crime rate within April and May,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Adamawa State yesterday said it had rescued a 19-year-old lady, Mumina Hamidu, who escaped from Boko Haram insurgents in Sambisa Forest. Briefing journalists on the development in Yola, the state’s Commandant of NSCDC, Mr. Aliyu Ndanusa, said Mumina was rescued with her eight-monthold baby on Thursday.
Ndanusa said the lady was abducted in Mubi town when it was occupied by the insurgents in 2014. According to him, she succeeded in escaping from Sambisa to Cameroon, where she was picked up by men of the corps while returning to Mubi. He said the lady and her baby would be handed over to the relevant authorities for proper rehabilitation.
The commandant also said the corps had between January and now, rescued two other women from Sambisa and arrested one Boko Haram suspect escaping from Sambisa. Also speaking to journalists, Mumina said she was abducted in Anguwan Barkono in Mubi and taken to Sambisa, where she was forced to marry one of the sect commanders, Bana Kura. Mumina said Kura had paid N30, 000 dowry to the authorities, adding that he was still alive when she escaped from the forest.