Four policemen have been killed after a bomb accidentally went off at the Police Armory of the Jimeta Divisional Police headquarters, in Yola, Adamawa state.
The Adamawa State Commissioner of Information, Ahmad Sajoh, confirmed this on Thursday during a telephone interview with Channels Television.
“Only four policemen are said to have lost their lives. The other persons may have sustained injuries but only four casualties were recorded and none of the students or pupils in the school nearby were affected to the extent of death,” Sajoh said.
The Commissioner said that the pupils who got hit were taken to the hospital, stressing that they have already been discharged.
He added that the blast was an accident involving the Police arsenal, stressing that “according to the preliminary information we have, they were running a routine maintenance on some of the equipment and facilities within the armory and that was when the bomb exploded”.
Mr Sajoh affirmed that “It is not a terror attack and the Commissioner of Police and heads of security agencies have been there since the incident occurred”.
He said that the Adamawa State Deputy Governor, the Speaker of the State Assembly, as well as other top government functionaries visited the scene of the blast.
The detonated bomb was said to have been recovered from members of the Boko Haram terrorist group.
The explosion sent people into panic particularly at the Central Primary School, directly opposite the police station, where pupils were attending classes at the time of the explosion.
The area has been evacuated, as efforts are being made to ensure that the bombs in the armory do not go off as well.
