Authorities of the Nigerian Army and police met in Port-Harcourt yesterday over the bomb blast that happened at the 2 Army Brigade, Zamani Lekwot Barracks in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Operatives of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) had on Thursday, been dispatched to the scene of the car bomb incident.
The operatives, a defence source informed Saturday Independent on condition of anonymity, were mandated to find out how militants infiltrated the city and planted the bomb without a trace.
” Military intelligence operatives have been sent to the place to investigate how the bombs were planted without being traced. The Defence Headquarters is not unmindful of the consequence of militants being able to carry out such guerrila warfare in the city,� the source added.
He also told our correspondent that, six people sustained various degrees of injuries, aside the two civilians that were killed by the blast. Other sources said three people died in the blast.
Confirming the development, the Director of Army Public Relations, Colonel Mohammed Yusuf informed Saturday Independent, in an exclusive chat that, �Investigation is on. The vehicle used was a Mercedes Benz 200. The incidence happened at 2 Brigade in Port Harcourt,� he said.
Meanwhile, authorities at the 2 Amphibious Brigade of the Nigeria Army in Port Harcourt, Rivers State Thursday denied claims that the explosion that rocked its Bori Camp Barracks was as a result of an attack by militants in the Niger Delta.
A regular Mercedes 200 with registration number DA746 KJA, moving across the Barracks had exploded at about 7.30 pm Wednesday when the incident occurred, killing three occupants of the vehicles and injuring many passers-by.
It was not clear whether the explosives were planted in the vehicle or in the barracks, although the army claimed all the victims were civilians.
An official statement, however, put the death toll from the explosion at two, adding that six other persons, two women and four men, were in critical conditions and receiving medical attention at the Port Harcourt Military Hospital.
Unofficial military sources claimed that a third victim of the explosion might have died early Thursday morning.
But the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) in a statement posted online claimed it detonated a 30 kg (66 lb) of dynamite using a cellular telephone, warning of more such attacks in strategic places.
The militant group also claimed the bomb attack was to serve as a signal to the Nigerian military that they were incapable of stopping MEND from striking in their barracks let alone in the creeks of the Niger Delta where oil installations are situated