At least five children have been killed by a grenade blast in Borno state on Thursday.
According to reports, the children were playing with a grenade which they had found in a field in the outskirts of the town. The incident occurred in Ngala, a Borno communitywhich shares a border with Cameroon.
“The five children picked up the explosive while herding in a field outside the town and it exploded in their hands as they were playing with it,” anti-jihadist militiaman Umar Kachalla said.
“Two of them died on the spot while the other three died in hospital in Mada, inside Cameroon,” he said.
Unexploded mines and grenades litter the communities in North East Nigeria due to the incessant fighting between Islamic terrorists (Boko Haram/ISWAP) and Nigerian troops.
Many children residing in these communities have been killed this way in recent times.
In August 2014, the Boko Haram jihadist group seized Ngala along with the nearby trading hub of Gamboru.
The two towns were recaptured in September 2015 by Nigerian troops with the help of Chadian forces following a month-long offensive.
In December 2019, nine people were killed and 26 injured when an explosive device went off on a crowded bridge linking Gamboru and Fotokol.
Residents blamed the explosion on a grenade disguised as a toy that, they said, had been given to some children as a gift by a Boko Haram insurgent.
