Mosque, school, houses destroyed in Bauchi dynamite explosion

A school, a mosque and several houses were destroyed by an explosion cause by a dynamite in Azare town of Katagum area of Bauchi State on Sunday, 15, January, 2023.

The explosion, which occured around the Police Township area of the town, also affected a proposed Police officers Jumuat Mosque.

A resident of the town, Haruna Bello told PREMIUM TIMES over the phone that the dynamite went off few minutes after 11:00 a.m while some local government officials were clearing the area.

“When the explosion occured, it took time before calm was restored. You know, we too had incidences of Boko Haram attacks some years back, so when the explosion happened, people began to scamper for safety thinking it was a Boko Haram attack,” Mr Bello said.

He said the explosion occurred at a local government owned building in the area.

Addressing journalists on the incident, the Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, Aminu Alhassan, confirmed the explosion but said no life was lost.

He said the explosion was caused by a dynamite while some people were clearing grasses in the area.

“The issue is an incident where some dynamite used in constructing roads in an abandoned store in a quarry site owned by a road construction company. Now they left the place more than 30 years ago.

“There was a problem of some people burning bushes around and the heat detonated one of the dynamites. There were not meant for Boko Haram. There were abandoned dynamite of the company for blasting rocks,” he said.

Mr Alhassan said the command dispatched an Anti Bomb Squad to the area for proper assessment.

He added that more abandoned dynamites were discovered by the police squad and had ordered for the place to be sealed.

“We immediately sent an EOD and they went there and found out that there were dynamites. They also cleared the area and exhumed two more dynamites that same night. They had expanded the search and three more dynamites were found. I’ve also ordered the sealing of the whole area so that it would not be accessible to the public until we cleared the area properly.

“There was a new mosque there, there was also a private school that were affected and some family houses. We want to assure people that it was not a Boko Haram or any terrorists attack but an explosion from dynamites,” he added.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the governor of the state, Bala Mohammed, alongside heads of security agencies in the state visited the town Monday afternoon.

Azare, the headquarter of Katagum Local Government area, suffered deadly Boko Haram when the insurgents attacked the town, leading to the death of three residents in 2011.