No fewer than six children died in a horrific incident that occurred on Saturday in Gubio Local Government Area, Borno State, as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED) going off close to a Qur’anic school.
According to Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency journal that focuses on the Lake Chad region, the catastrophic event happened at around 2 p.m.
The publication claims that an IED that had not yet detonated that had been gathered among scraps exploded within a structure that a metal scavenger used.
Six children who were in the vicinity of the Qur’anic school tragically died as a result of the explosion’s close proximity to them.
The publication reads, “An improvised explosive device (IED) has detonated in Gubio town, Borno, resulting in the tragic deaths of six Quranic school pupils popularly known as Almajirai.
“The incident took place on Saturday, January 27, when a metal scavenger unknowingly collected and stored various metallic items in a building in close proximity to a Tsangaya school.
“Little did the scavenger know that among the collected metal was an abandoned undetonated IED, which exploded at approximately 2 pm, claiming the lives of the children and causing severe bodily harm.”
In 2022, the Borno police said about 55 scrap metal collectors were killed by insurgents within the period of three weeks in the state.
In 2023, Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno, banned activities of metal scavenging in all LGAs of the state.
Zulum had said metal scavenging activities had caused the death of thousands of citizens in the state.