An improvised explosive device (IED) suspected to have been mistaken for scrap metal exploded in Konduga, Borno State, on Sunday, leaving two children feared dead and four others injured.
Konduga, about 40 kilometres from Maiduguri, is the headquarters of Konduga Local Government Area.
Sources said the victims picked up the object at an excavation site where the Borno State Government is carrying out a project.
The device, believed to be an old IED, had reportedly been unearthed by an excavating machine.
Unaware of its danger, the children carried it into Ajari community in Konduga and struck it against a tarred road, triggering an explosion. Residents told reporters that two of the boys later died from severe injuries, while four others were taken to a hospital in Maiduguri for treatment.
“It was the boys who brought the object into town, thinking it was scrap metal,” one resident said. “Unfortunately, two of them didn’t survive the blast.”
However, a military source disputed claims of fatalities, describing the object as a small hand grenade, possibly dropped by insurgents.
The source maintained that only four children sustained injuries and were receiving medical attention in Maiduguri.