An explosive device planted in a football field in Potiskum, northeast Yobe town by suspected Boko Haram bomber has killed one, witnesses said.
A blast occurred at a football playing ground in Potiskum, Yobe commercial centre at about 6.30pm on Sunday, killing a sugar-cane seller, Ajari Mohammed, a resident told 247ureports on phone.
He said many residents believed Boko Haram bombers targeted the usually crowded Arikime Primary School football field in the town but the explosive devices went off earlier than targeted time.
“Many youths usually go to the field to play or watch football every morning. Others also go there for exercise. Activities on the field usually start by 6.30am and continue till about10am or more depending on the people,” he disclosed, adding that many believe Boko Haram planted the bomb (IEDs) in the evening, targeting the early morning crowd of football enthusiasts.
Witnesses said the sugar-cane seller who ironically was the lone victim stepped on the explosive device planted in the middle of the field.
The blast created panic among residents, sources said even as neither police authority nor the military in the state has commented on the incident.
Boko Haram has renewed attacks on Yobe in recent time. On December 1, a group of Boko Haram attacked Damaturu, the state capital, killing no fewer than 20 people including policemen and civilians. The daring attack was later repelled by military forces.
Earlier in October, two suicide bombers ran into a procession of a Muslim group in Potiskum. At least 35 people died in the attack while more than 40 students of the Government Science Secondary School in same town were killed two weeks after the earlier attack as a Boko Haram suicide bomber who disguise like a student, detonated bomb in the middle of the school assembly.
