‘Bomb blast not a terrorist attack,’ Army says

The Nigerian Army has said that the recent bomb blast which occurred in Benin City, Edo State was not a terrorist attack.

The assurance was given by the Brigade Commander, 4 Brigade of the Nigerian Army in Benin City, Brigadier General Faruk Yahaya, The Guardian reports.

“We heard of the explosion here and I came for an on-the-spot assessment to know what happened, so that you can brief appropriately. By my assessment and by that of others, it is obvious that it is not a terrorist attack,” he said.

“It is not an attack on this place. The people around here can bear witness; we don’t think it is an attack. Perhaps, you can describe it as an accident or something that was buried there that exploded.

“We are grateful to God that when the thing happened, there were no people very close by. The incident would have been bigger; what happened to nearby houses is as a result of vibration from the explosion.

“What I will only urge all of us to do is to be vigilant. Security is everybody’s business. When you see something you do not understand, you suspect‎, report to the security agencies. People are living in communities; when there is somebody alien to them, they know.

“I am not in a position to say what the building was meant for. What we saw suggests that whoever was there, was having the material (IEDs) you saw,” he added.

The explosion, which occurred in the Sokponba area of the capital city on Tuesday, February 2, was said to have destroyed five houses.