Mosque, school, houses destroyed in Bauchi dynamite explosion

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

The blast, which occurred around the city’s Municipal Police area, also affected the proposed Police officers at the Friday Mosque.

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

“When an explosion happens, it takes time to calm down. You know, we also had incidents of Boko Haram attacks a few years ago, so when the explosion happened, people started running for safety thinking it was a Boko Haram attack,” Mr. Bello said.

He said the explosion occurred in a building belonging to the local government in the area.

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

He said the explosion was caused by dynamite when some people were clearing grass in the area.

“The issue is what happened when some dynamite was used to build a road in an abandoned shop at a mine site belonging to a road construction company. They left the place more than 30 years ago.

“There was a problem of some people burning the bush and the heat exploded one of the dynamite. None of it was intended for Boko Haram. There was a company’s dynamite that was left to explode rocks,” he said.

Mr. Alhassan said the command has deployed Anti-Bomb Squad to the area for proper assessment.

He added that more dynamite left behind was found by the police squad and had ordered the place to be sealed.

“We immediately sent the EOD and they went there and found out that there was dynamite. They also cleared the area and exhumed two more dynamite in the same night. They have expanded the search and found three more dynamite. I have also ordered to close the whole area so that it cannot be accessed by the public until we clean up the area properly.

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“There is a new mosque there, as well as an affected private school and some family houses. We want to assure people that it is not Boko Haram or a terrorist attack, but an explosion from dynamite,” he said.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the governor of the state, Bala Mohammed, together with the head of security agencies in the state visited the city on Monday afternoon.

Azare, the headquarters of Katagum Local Government Area, suffered from Boko Haram when the insurgents attacked the town, killing three residents in 2011.