A bag filled with improvised explosive devices discovered by operatives of the youth vigilante at a deserted camp of Boko Haram near Monguno village in Borno State had exploded killing at least 63 persons, witnesses and security sources said.
The explosion, which occurred at about 5.00 p.m. on Tuesday, also left many people 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 before they were dislodged by soldiers in February.He said
“When they found the bag containing what later turned out to be improvised explosive devices, they brought it to Monguno town where people gathered to take a look at it. As they were busy looking at the content of the bag, the devices went off, killed about 63 persons and injured many others,” he said
“It was really a very sad incident that affected many families. Most of those affected are young men and a few number of women.”
An officer of the VGN in Maiduguri, Abbas Gava, 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. But when we later checked, we discovered that it was an accidental explosion caused by the foolishness of the Civilian-JTF operatives who discovered such a dangerous device and did not call on the police or military.”
A source at the state specialists hospital in Maiduguri, who spoke with Tribune Onlinerevealed that they received 29 corpses at the hospital.
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