Police confirm explosion in Ile-Ife

No casualty was recorded.

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The inhabitants of Ile Ife in Osun state were in panic on Tuesday morning after an explosion went off in the More area of the town.

Witnesses say an explosive device planted in a house went off. They said a police anti-bomb squad which arrived the area soon after the explosion defused other devices planted close by.

No casualty or damaged property was reported.

The Osun State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Maishanu, who visited the scene of the explosion, told PREMIUM TIMES that the blast was caused by dynamites planted by “mischievous persons.”

He said the nobody was killed and injured by the explosion as the dynamites were planted in an isolated area. He also confirmed that the police anti-bomb unit defused other unexploded dynamites found at the site.

“it was a dynamite of a low calibre and it was placed in an area where it cannot hurt anyone or damage property. When first one exploded police bomb unit went to the site and the second one was found at the same location and it was detonated by our anti-bomb squad,” Mr. Maishanu said.

The Media aide to the Governor of Osun State, Semiu Okanlawon, told PREMIUM TIMES that the explosion happened close to the family house of the state Commissioner for Tourism, Shikiru Ayedun.

It is not clear if the explosion is linked to the August 9 gubernatorial election in the state. The state has been relatively peaceful in the run-up to the election. But the government of the state has warned of plots to import violence into the state as the election draws near.