Explosion kills four children in Borno border community

By : Njadvara Musa

Date: 5 December 2025 10:12pm WAT

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(FILES) A Nigerian soldier from the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) uses a metal detector to search for IEDs in Monguno, Borno state, Nigeria, on July 5, 2025. Improvised explosive devices and unexploded ordnance killed or injured 418 civilians in northeast Nigeria in 2024, more than double the year prior -- but workers knew the severity of the crisis was no guarantee that the programme would survive. (Photo by Joris Bolomey / AFP)

(FILES) A Nigerian soldier from the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) uses a metal detector to search for IEDs in Monguno, Borno state, Nigeria, on July 5, 2025. Improvised explosive devices and unexploded ordnance killed or injured 418 civilians in northeast Nigeria in 2024, more than double the year prior -- but workers knew the severity of the crisis was no guarantee that the programme would survive. (Photo by Joris Bolomey / AFP)

An Improvised Explosive Device (IED), suspected to have been planted in the bush by Boko Haram terrorists, has killed four children in a border community of Banki in Bama Local Government Area of Borno State.

According to the Police Command, the IED exploded on Friday near a motor park at 12:40 p.m., killing four children between the ages of 12 and 15. The Command’s spokesman, ASP Nahum Daso, disclosed the detonation of the explosive device on Friday in a statement in Maiduguri.

“The Borno State Police Command wishes to inform the general public of a tragic Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion that occurred today, 5/12/2025, at about 12:40 hours behind Banki Motor Park, Wajari Ward, Banki, Bama Local Government Area of Borno State,” the statement read. “One Babagana Mohammed of Wajari Ward at 1:00 p.m. reported an unexploded IED near a motor park. On receipt of the report, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Banki and his team were immediately mobilised to the scene and cordoned the area for safety.”

Besides cordoning the site of the IED, Daso stated, “Preliminary investigation revealed that Mustapha Tijani, a 12-year-old boy, sustained serious injuries from the IED shrapnel and burns.”

He explained that Mustapha and the four children who were killed went to a makeshift room near the Banki motor park, where they started playing with a strange object before it exploded and killed four of them.

They include Awana Mustapha, 15; Malum Modu, 14; Lawan Ibrahim, 12; and Modu Abatcha, 12. As normalcy has been restored, the Police Commissioner, Naziru Abdulmajid, has expressed condolences to the families of the deceased children.

He warned the public, particularly children, against playing with strange objects or any suspected explosive devices in communities and farmlands.

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