Police Confirm Taraba Gun Accident Kills 3 Children, Injures 4

The gun incident in Karim Lamido Local Government Area of Taraba State killed three children and injured four others, Commissioner of Police David Iloyonomon confirmed on Sunday.

Didango Geita community mourned on Saturday as kids playing with a Dane gun got killed and injured after an explosion of a dynamite, the police commissioner said.

"The three children that died were playing with a Dane gun on a tree, whose gunpowder later exploded and killed them," Iloyonomon said, Premium Times reported.

The commissioner noted that three kids playing with the gun died, while four others playing under the tree were currently receiving treatment at the state's specialist hospital in Jalingo.

Iloyonomon revealed that after receiving the explosion information, the department deployed the anti-bomb unit of the Nigeria Police Force which rushed to the scene. After conducting a professional and thorough search, the unit discovered that no exhibit was 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," he said. "Since there was no assailant, it is suspected to be an accidental discharge."

The police commissioner stated that the area where the incident took place had been cordoned off and investigations were going on to uncover more details.

"Further findings by the E.O.D unit revealed that the three pallets recovered are used in conjunction with gunpowder to prepare ammunition for Dane guns," the commissioner said. "Thereafter we went to further interview Audu who reported the incident to the police."

As per the unit's investigation, Iloyomon noted that it is "very clear" that it was "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."

Earlier this year, a devastating explosion in Ibadan claimed two lives and left 80 people injured. Whereas, last year, an explosion took place at the Canadian High Commission in Abuja, killing two people and hospitalizing at least two others.

In fact, a blast at an illegal oil refinery last year in southern Nigeria killed at least 37 people, including two pregnant women.