Islamic schools bombed in Sapele as 10 pupils were injured

FEARS that members of the Boko Haram sect might have finally infiltrated the Niger Delta region heightened on Tuesday night,
following a bomb explosion that rocked an Islamic school in Sapele, Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State, just as a couple and their daughter were reportedly killed by Fulani herdsmen in Plateau State.
The explosion was the second in Sapele in three weeks after a mosque, on Hausa Road, was rocked by an early morning bomb blast.
Tuesday’s blast injured 10 Muslim pupils, including a woman who are, at the moment, receiving treatment at the General Hospital, Sapele, Delta State University Hospital, Oghara and the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin, Edo State.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that yet-to-be-identified occupants of a Toyota Camry car threw a bomb at a store being used for Islamic lesson by about 50 pupils at about 8.40 p.m., which exploded and injured the victims.
It was learnt the explosion was massive and threw some of the pupils in different directions and that the assailants moved a distance to ensure that they indeed hit their target before escaping from the scene.
The explosion, according to an eyewitness, occurred three hours after the commencement of the day’s lessons and one and a half hours before closing time at the school on King Street, off Urhobo road, Sapele.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the victims were identified as Asisat Hassan; Saidat Muhammed; Xlare Jemilat, all females, Asibi Lawal (the woman).
Chief Medical Director of the Sapele General Hospital, Dr Omo Aghoja, confirmed that three of the bomb victims were receiving treatment in the hospital.
A senior security officer at the scene confirmed that the explosion was dynamite but the Divisional Police Officer of Sapele, Mr Emmanuel Ighodalo, declined to comment.
He, however, said all necessary information about the incident had been given by him to the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Chalres Muka, whose duty it was to brief the press.
Incidentally, security officials from Abuja were in Sapele to investigate the cause of a recent bomb blast in the area when the latest incident occurred.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that top security chiefs in the state had visited the scene and immediately entered into an emergency security meeting in Sapele before leaving the town.
Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Muka, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident.
He said a low capacity dynamite was thrown into a classroom by some hoodlums in a vehicle and that six persons were injured in the blast that occurred.
Muka said the police had commenced full investigations into the incident.
The Chief Imam of Sapele Central Mosque, Alhaji Mohammed Usman, said: “The blast was targeted to exterminate the Muslim pupils” and called on the government to increase security around the Muslim community in Sapele.
A Muslim faithful, who sought anonymity, told Nigerian Tribune that the Tuesday night blast was a retaliatory attack on the Muslim sect that bombed the Central Mosque, three weeks ago.
According to him, “The Muslim school on Tuesday night is mainly attended by children of the rival Muslim worshippers and mosque situated about 300 yards away from the Central Mosque, Sapele.”
Meanwhile, following threats that the Boko Haram sect would attack churches in the South during the Yuletide, the police in Delta State have intensified security in the area along with other security agents to ensure crisis-free services on New Year’s Day.
According to Muka, Delta State would remain safe as it was during the Christmas celebration.
He disclosed that the police rescued a woman and recovered an AK47 rifle, two magazines, and two live cartridges from a kidnapping gang in Effurun.
Similarly, the wife of a lecturer at the Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku, Mrs Ogba Erezi, who was abducted by an unknown gang last Thursday, at Ogwashi-Uku, has regained her freedom without any ransom paid.
Reports said the husband was about to open the gate for the woman at dusk in their residence around DPPS area when the kidnappers took her away.
ASP Muka, who confirmed the story, said the woman was dropped on the Ubulu-Uku/Ogwashi road after three days.
In another development, the state of insecurity in Delta State came to the fore, on Wednesday, with the killing of two mobile policemen on patrol in Warri by yet to be identified gunmen.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the policemen were part of a patrol team keeping surveillance on the Mackaival road, when they were attacked by the hoodlums.
Security sources disclosed that the patrol team was moving on the Mackaival road when they were shot from the rear by gunmen in a vehicle.
“The patrol team was on surveillance on the Mackaival road when occupants of a vehicle opened fire on them from the rear. Two of the policemen in the Jeep were felled and died instantly,” a security source said.
The incident occurred at about 2.30 p.m, thereby, throwing the police community at “A” Division and the area command into mourning.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that the deceased were Michael Okerakpo, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and Emmanuel Okoh, an Inspector of Police.
When the Nigerian Tribune visited the police station, their colleagues were lamenting the difficulties facing them in the execution of their duties in the town.
Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Charles Muka, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident.
He said: “We lost two men to gunmen today. We are in a sad mood but definitely, with God on our side, we will get the culprits.”
Also, a group of people suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, on Tuesday night, attacked Wereng village in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State and killed three members of a family in a barbaric manner.
the attackers, numbering about 15 and armed with sophisticated rifles, stormed the village at about 11.00 p.m. when most of the villagers had gone to bed.
It was learnt that the assailants, who entered the village through the hills around the village, positioned themselves at various entry points to the village while a few of them entered to carry out the dastardly act.
An eyewitness told the Nigerian Tribune that at the first house that they attacked, a family of three was butchered and shot in their living room. They were identified as Philip Francis, 37; his wife, Simi, 28 and their little baby, Nerat, who was mercilessly butchered by the attackers.
A 64-year-old woman who survived that attack by escaping through the window of her room told newsmen that the assailants shot into the air when they entered the village with the aim of scaring them out of their respective houses, adding that many remained indoors having known their antics.
The woman identified as Mary Pam, said the alarm raised by the people of the village forced the attackers to beat a retreat and escaped through the nearby hills.