Explosion kills six in northeast Nigeria

KANO, Nigeria: Six people, including four children, were killed on Saturday when an explosive device collected by metal scavengers exploded in northeast Nigeria´s Borno state where troops are fighting jihadist groups, a local official and two anti-jihadist militia told AFP on Sunday.

The home-made bomb went off when two metal scavengers were sorting through scraps they collected from the bush outside the town of Gubio, 80-kms from the regional capital Maiduguri, the sources said.

“Six people were killed in the IED (improvised explosive device) explosion, two men and four children who were pupils of an Islamic seminary near the scene,” Mali Bulama, political administrator for Gubio district said.

The identity of the men had yet to be determined because they were badly mutilated by the blast that occurred inside an unfinished building used to store scraps, Bulama added.

Militia leader Babakura Kolo said the men were rummaging through heaps of metal when the device went off.

“The metal scavengers were sorting out the metals for possible objects of value when they brought out the IED from one of the sacks and it went off, killing them and four children playing nearby,” Kolo said. Umar Ari, another militia member, gave the same toll.