The Delta Police Command on Wednesday said seven people were hospitalised following Tuesday’s explosion at an Arabic school in Sapele,southern Delta state. Police spokesman Charles Muka told journalists in Asaba, the state capital, that the incident occurred at about 9.40 pm local time on Tuesday, when the locally made explosive was thrown into the class by unidentified group from a moving car.
“Six children and one adult who were injured by the explosive are currently in the hospital in Sapele in a class of about 50 people.
“I don’t want to associate it with the Boko Haram case; we believe that the group in question is learning how to make local explosives. “Though no arrest has been made but we are trailing the group to nip them from the bud,’’ he said.
A similar incident occurred in a mosque in Sapele on 10 Dec., leaving at least one person injured.
Analysts said there are fears that the attacks could be reprisals for the bombing of churches in the predominantly-Muslim north by the Islamic sect Boko Haram, including the ones on Christmas Day that left at least 40 dead.