An unidentified suicide bomber has blown self to pieces in Afikpo town, Afikpo local government area of Ebonyi State.
ANG gathered that the incident occurred at about 12pm on Tuesday.
Commissioner for Internal Security, Stanley Okoro who confirmed the incident, noted that he was yet to get details of what happened.
However, a source revealed that the suicide bomber attempted to gain entrance into Amaizu/ Amangballa Primary School but was denied by the school security.
She said the officer, identified as Idi Aminu, died as a result of an accidental explosion from a hand grenade.
The police in Ebonyi State said the man killed in a Tuesday explosion in Afikpo was a police operative, and not a suicide bomber as reported in the media.
“He made an attempt at entering Amaizu/ Amangballa Primary School but was turned back by the school security since he couldn’t justify his reason for visiting. He immediately started running inside a nearby bush before a big bang was heard,” the source said.
The upper part of the man’s body was completely destroyed form the impact of the bomb.
It was learnt that the incident has aroused tension in the area as residents fled for safety.
The state’s Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Odah Loveth was unable to take calls as at press time.
Ebonyi suicide bombing: Signals the start of bad times in the South ― MBF
The Middle Belt Forum, MBF, Tuesday said the reported case of a suicide bomber in Ebonyi state marks the beginning of bad times in the southern part of the country generally.
National President of the MBF, Dr. Bitrus Pogu told Vanguard in Makurdi that the development was a warning call on the federal government to frontally address the security challenges facing the country as it was getting out of hand. According to him, “that is to say what is happening in Borno has come to the South-East or the entire south full blast. It is a warning call and the earlier we address some of our security issues and face it frontally the better for everybody.
“Remember during former President Jonathan’s government, suicide bombing was very rampant. These persons came in and I think they had some arrangements, I am sorry to say that, and the thing just ceased. “Is it that they ran out of dynamite or out of bomb-making materials? I do not think so. There must be something going on which we could not see in the open, but it stopped. “Now the introduction of suicide bombing and other forms of bombing in the South-East, to me signals the beginning of bad times in the south generally.
“Before now, let’s say recently, cries came out from everywhere that the south is being infiltrated by killer herdsmen, by bandits or whatever name they are called. “And now with the introduction of bombing whether it is suicide or planted, it has created a new dimension and the south needs to wake up. That is the organized crime happening in the north, particularly in the North-East is now rearing its head in the South-East and eventually the entire south. “So everybody should be a suspect till proven innocent, and that is how they will survive. It is a warning and wake-up call on security operatives, on vigilantes on everybody to install facilities that will forestall the bombing of people and facilities in the south. “Let them learn from what happened in the north so that everywhere will be protected,” he added.
