EXPLOSION: Police Deny Report Of Bomb Blast In Bayelsa

The Bayelsa State Police Command has denied the car bomb explosion report in the state capital, saying the sound heard along the Okaka Estate area of the state capital was from a cartridge carried by a police personnel.

The residents of the Okaka Estate area were on Tuesday thrown into panic over a sudden loud sound from the boot of a car parked along the road 6 section of the estate.

LEADERSHIP gathered that though nobody died, the explosion caused many residents of the area to vacate the surrounding and called the men of the Nigerian police.

It was gathered that the loud sound, which occurred at about 11am shortly after the morning rain, came from an old blue Nissan Sunny car parked along the road by unknown persons.

A resident of the area said the device exploded from the boot of the vehicle.

It only rocked the boot of the car, shattering its back screen. Somebody was injured because at the time of the explosion, some boys were hanging around the car. They took to their heels to save their lives.

It was further learnt that the operatives of the anti-bomb squad from the state police command immediately cordoned off the area. The affected car was said to have been towed to the Ekeki Police Station in Yenagoa.

One of the residents identified himself as John said though they were initially scared, they only discovered later that it was not a serious matter.

We were afraid initially. But when we got to the scene, we discovered it was a minor incident. Whatever exploded was not a bomb. Only the back screen of the car was affected, he said.

But the police public relations officer, Alex Akhigbe, who denied that the loud sound heard by residents was a car bomb, said it was a sound from a police smoke cartridge which caught fire in a car driven by a police personnel.