At least 4 dead, 20 injured as blast hits police station in NE Nigeria

At least four dead bodies have so far been recovered as rescue operation commenced at the site of a huge explosion which rocked a divisional police headquarters in Jimeta town of Nigeria's northeastern state of Adamawa on Thursday, local rescue workers said. Twenty injured people have also been rescued and conveyed to local hospitals in the area for treatment, a spokesperson of the state emergency team told Xinhua. The Adamawa state authorities confirmed the suspected bomb blast at the premises of Adamawa Motor Traffic Department of the Nigeria Police. Police authorities said the blast at the Jimeta Police station which houses the headquarters of the command anti-bomb squad, was caused by bombs recovered from Boko Haram suspects. Police chief in charge of the state Mohammed Gazali said the recovered bombs exploded from the store where the exhibits were being kept and most of those affected were policemen. The police station houses the state Central Investigation Bureau, Motor Traffic Department and the police tailoring section. The divisional police headquarters was badly damaged as a result of the powerful blast, according to a witness identified as Mohammed Bello. "The powerful blast even shattered the doors and glass windows of buildings in the area," he said. Atiku Bala, another witness, said there might be a high number of casualties because the divisional police headquarters was usually jampacked. Moreover, an elementary school located directly opposite the divisional police headquarters in Jimeta was in session, with pupils in their classrooms when the blast occurred, the witness said. The blast caused public panic because the location of the police station is in a strategic commercial area surrounded by a market, school, prison yard, post office and a TV station. On June 3, 2015, many people were killed following a Boko Haram bomb attack at Jimeta night market located near the Jimeta central market.