Borno: Five Children Killed In Explosion

A disused grenade has killed five children who were playing with it outside the northeast of Ngala, near the border of Cameroon.

An anti-jihadist militiaman, Umar Kachalla said, “the five children picked up the explosive while herding in a field outside the town and it exploded in their hands as they were playing with it.”

“Two of them died on the spot while the other three died in hospital in Mada, inside Cameroon.”

Another militiaman, Umar Ari who spoke on the incident which happened on Thursday stated a similar account of the incident.

Boko Haram terrorists in August 2014 seized Ngala along with the nearby trading hub of Gamboru.

The Nigerian troops recaptured the two towns in September 2015 with help of Chadian forces following a months-long offensive.

Ari while speaking on the incident disclosed that unexploded mines and grenades from the conflict still litter the surrounding countryside and many children had been killed or injured.

Nine people were killed and 26 injured in December 2019 when an explosive device went off on a crowded bridge linking Gamboru and Fotokol.

Residents blamed the explosion on a grenade disguised as a toy that, they said, had been given to some children as a gift by a Boko Haram insurgent.