The explosion occurred at the time Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari was delivering his nationwide Democracy Day speech.
The same checkpoint had been hit by bomb blast in the past believed to be from the dreaded Boko Haram sect.
Though the Nigerian army has denied that Sunday’s early morning bomb blast at the military checkpoint in Biu was caused by a car suicide bomber.
The military, however said the bomb explosion was caused by an IED buried long time ago undetected at the side of the road which was “erroneously” stepped upon by a tricycle known as Keke NAPEP.
It also, nonetheless, said 5 persons comprising of a woman with her baby and 2 other male adults including a soldier lost their lives in the blast.
Spokesman of the military Col. Sani Usman in a statement to newsmen few hours after the blast, said preliminary investigations by the military shows that the IED was buried long time ago undetected and exploded when the tricycle erroneously stepped on it.
He said, “At about 8.15am today a tricycle, known as “Keke NAPEP” unknowingly stepped on an Improvise Explosive Device (IED) planted by the side of Biu -Damboa road close to a military checkpoint at the outskirts of Biu town, Borno State.
“Unfortunately, the IED exploded instantly killing 4 persons comprising of a woman with her baby and 2 other male adults. Three other persons were injured including a soldier and they were immediately evacuated to Biu General Hospital. We regret to state that the injured soldier also died at the hospital.”
Mr. Usman however said the general area has since been cordoned off and Explosive Ordinance Device (EOD) team from Forward Operation Base (FOB) in Buratai have been mobilized to carryout further search of the area.
“We commiserate with the families of the victims of this sad incident.
“This unfortunate development has brought to the fore, the need for more security consciousness and vigilance among all.
“We would like to reiterate that the explosion would not deter us from seeing to the end of Boko Haram terrorists wherever they might be hiding through our ongoing clearance operations.
“We want to use this opportunity to solicit for more cooperation from the members of the public to enable us succeed in the fight against the remnants of these criminal elements going by the appellation ‘Boko Haram terrorists’ “, the statement added.
Mezietimesng
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