Four die, 21 injured in Yobe community explosion

A suspected Improvised Explosive Device (IED) killed at least four persons and injured no fewer than 21 others on Friday along the Katarko-Goniri Road in the Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State.

According to reports, the victims were on their way to the popular Buniyadi market when their vehicle stepped on the suspected IED.

The corpses of the four victims had been reportedly taken home for burial, while the others are receiving medical treatment at a specialist hospital and Yobe State University Teaching Hospital, Damaturu, respectively.

The Gotala community, where the incident happened, is located at the fringes of the Sambisa Forest, where the suspected Boko haram insurgents have been operating for the past one and a half decades.

Eyewitness reports say that vigilantes and military vehicles had also run over the buried IED on Thursday along the same route, with scores either killed or injured.

The military has yet to issue a statement at the time of filing this report.

In the meantime, the relatives of victims have called on the Yobe State government, as a matter of urgency, to reconstruct the dilapidated road to avert the activities of the insurgents, as the lives of the communities and the military formation at Goniri are at high risk.