At least four people were killed on Thursday when bombs seized from Boko Haram Islamists detonated at a police station in Yola, Adamawa State, eyewitnesses have confirmed.
Commissioner of Police in Adamawa, Mohammed Gazali, said most of those affected by blast which occurred in the Jimeta area of the state capital at about 11:30am were policemen.
“Policemen were mostly affected and we don’t know the actual casualties for now as the place is not yet safe for us to go in,” Gazali said.
“They were all police officers,” coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the state, Sa’ad Bello, told AFP by telephone.
“Five or six” others sustained minor injuries and were treated in different hospitals but later discharged, he added.
The explosion also affected the walls of Majalisa Primary School where some pupils were injured.
Commissioner for Information, Malam Ahmad Sajoh, confirmed that the pupils sustained minor injuries and had been treated and discharged from hospital.
The station where the blast occurred contained offices of the Central Investigation Bureau, Motor Traffic Department and the police tailoring section.
The incident led to hurried closure of markets and schools in the area as residents scampered home for safety amidst fears of another attack by Boko Haram.
The Islamist insurgents have attacked the city before and have targeted police stations and government buildings across the northeast.
“Contrary to speculation, the explosion had nothing to do with any sabotage or attack. We have recovered lots of explosives from these troubled areas,” Adamawa police spokesman, Othman Abubakar, said.
“Usually we screen them and store them for safe-keeping. We don’t know what happened. Possibly this wasn’t screened properly.”
Aliyu Maikano, an official with the Nigerian Red Cross, said the blast “wrought massive destruction on the building” and sparked a fire.
Security personnel kept rescue workers at a safe distance because of fears of further explosions, he added.
On November 17 last year, at least 34 people were killed and 80 others injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off at a lorry park in the Jambutu area of the city.
At least 27 people were killed and 96 wounded in a blast at a Jambutu mosque on October 23.
Another home-made bomb left at a camp for people displaced by the conflict in Malkohi, just outside Yola, killed seven on September 11.
The Boko Haram insurgency has left at least 17,000 people dead since it began in 2009 but over the last year a sustained counter-insurgency has recaptured territory lost to the rebels.
The group has since reverted to attacks on “soft” civilian targets such as markets, bus stations and mosques using suicide bombers and IEDs.
