Three children have been confirmed killed and four others injured from an accidental discharge from a dane gun in Didango Gaita village in Karim-Lamido local government area of Taraba State at the weekend.
The police commissioner in the state, David Iloyonomon, confirmed the incident but debunked the earlier claims that the children were killed in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion or a dynamite explosion.
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Iloyonomon said the children were playing with the dane gun, which they took from a tree on their father’s rice farm.
The incident caused fears among the villagers who fled for their lives, suspecting that it was a terror attack.
Iloyonomon insisted that the victims were playing with the Dane gun when the gunpowder exploded.
He said the four children who were playing under the tree were also injured, with one fatally injured, adding that they were receiving treatment at the State’s Specialist Hospital in Jalingo, the state capital. The commissioner said, “One Danjuma Audu gave the information to the police that there was an explosion which resulted in the death of three youngsters and the injury of four others.
”On the receipt of the information, we deployed the anti-bomb unit of the Nigeria Police Force whose men and officers rushed to the scene, conducted a thorough search and discovered that no exhibit is related to dynamite or IED recovered from the scene.
”Instead, they recovered pallets from a dane gun which was evident in the bodies of the casualties and suspected to be responsible for their death.
”Further findings by the ED unit revealed that the three pallets recovered were used in conjunction with gunpowder to prepare ammunition for Dane guns.
”Thereafter, we went to further interview Mallam Danjuma Audu, who reported the incident to the police. He revealed that the three children that died were the ones on top of the tree while in the farm, while the other four that were on the ground sustained injuries and that’s a very clear evidence to show that it is not an IED explosion, because if it were to be IED or dynamite explosion, those children on the ground and on the tree would have been shattered beyond recognition.”
The police commissioner identified the deceased as Miracle Danjuma, 11, Liyacheyan Bitrus, 12, and Kefas Bitrus, 11, with the first casualty Miracle Danjuma, being the son of the man who reported the incident.
Others that sustained injuries include Joseph Danjuma, (8), Leah Aluda (8), Godbless Hassan (7) and Christian Hassan (7), the grandchild of Danjuma Audu, the owner of an irrigation rice farm whom the children followed to assist in his farm.