A farmer identified as Dauda Haruna has been reportedly killed while four others, including 3 siblings, were severely injured in suspected bomb explosions in Bassa community, Shiroro LGA of Niger State.
Reports revealed that the incident happened between Bassa and Gwadara communities on Thursday when the victims were going to farm to harvest crops.
Residents told newsmen that the first explosion went up while the 3 siblings, Mali (20), Nehemiah (14) and Jona (15) were on a motorcycle, while the second one went up when the motorcycle of those coming for rescue stepped on it, killing one of the rescuers, Dauda Haruna.
Mr Enoch, the father of the three children, who struggled to control his tears narrated the incident to our correspondent at the IBB Specialist Hospital, Minna, where the victims were being treated.
He said it was second time bombs would explode this month in Bassa.
Enoch said the children were ahead on a bike while he was trekking with his wife when they heard a heavy sound.
“We were going to farm to harvest our crops. So, I asked my children to start going on bike while my wife and I followed on foot. They were far from us but we heard a heavy sound like gunshots. While we were discussing that it might be bandits, someone coming from the same direction told us that some children had stepped on a bomb. I knew they were my children.
“Two people who came from Bassa on a rescue mission again stepped on another bomb close to the scene of my children. Unfortunately, one lost his life,” he explained.
Two of the siblings, Nehemiah and Jonah and one of the rescuers, Abdullahi Shuaibu lost one leg each.
An eyewitness, Sa’adu Shuaibu, told newsmen that one of the victims who died was taking loafs of bread to the neighbouring villages when he met the three siblings in distress, with their legs shattered.
“When he saw the children, because he could not help them alone, he rushed to the community to tell us to go and rescue them. So, he picked one person on his bike and on their way, they stepped on another bomb. Unfortunately, the victim who rode the bike died while the person he took lost one of his legs,” he said.
One of residents, Ahmed Almustapha, appealed to the state and federal governments to come to their aid.
When contacted, the Spokesperson for the Niger State Police Command, SP Wasiu Abiodun, promised to find out about the incident and revert but was yet to do so at the time of filing this report.
Calls put across to the Niger State Commissioner for Homeland Security, Brigadier General Bello Abdullahi Mohammed (RTD) went unanswered. He did not also reply to a message sent to his phone.
