42 years after the Nigerian civil war ended, a bomb, believed to have been dropped during the period, exploded in Enugu, the capital of Enugu State. There were, however, no casualties, the police said.
The war, which saw the south-east attempting to break away from the Nigerian federation under the name, Biafra, started in 1967 and ended in 1970.
The bomb exploded on Friday, in the rice mill section of Oye Market in Awgu Local Government Area of the state at about 2.50 p.m. (1450 hours).
Although the source of the bomb could not be immediately ascertained, experts said it could be one of the unexploded bombs dropped during the war.
Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed the blast, said the command had commenced full scale investigations into the incident.
”We have commenced full scale investigations into the blast suspected to be that of the unexploded ordinance that was used and abandoned during the civil war.
”The incident allegedly occurred at about 1450hrs of 30/03/12 at rice mill part of Oye Market of Awgu in Enugu State of Nigeria. No casualty was reported as there was no loss of life or property,” the police spokesman said.
According to the PPRO, men of the anti-bomb squad of the command picked the remnant of the suspected unexploded ordinance for necessary analysis.
Amaraizu recalled the sensitization campaign earlier carried out by the command in conjunction with the media over the devastating effect of the unexploded ordinances and advised the people not to tamper with them any time they come across such explosives in their farms or any other area affected by the civil war. The command, however, assured the people of the state of “maximum safety.”
The Humanitarian De-miners from the Ministry of Defence, Abuja had, in 2010, carried out scanning of the areas ravaged by the civil war in South Eastern Nigeria and recovered several bombs and other explosives which were later destroyed.
Mr. Bala Yakubu, the leader of the group, disclosed that several bombs, including conventional and locally made landmines used during the civil war, were still posing serious danger in the war affected areas.
Only last year, a sophisticated bomb was recovered from a building site belonging to an Anglican Church along One Day Road, Enugu by operatives of the state police bomb squad.
