1,366 explosions recorded in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe in five years - UN report says

The United Nations (UN) has stated it has collated an estimated 1,366 incidents of explosive hazards in the past five years in Nigeria’s Northeastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

The three conflict-torn states have seen devastating attacks by Boko Haram over the years.

According to the international organisation, some of the incidents are caused by the use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) by assailants.

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Edward Kallon, revealed this at the Humanitarian Mine Action and Coordination Workshop, held in Abuja on Thursday.

At the event, the UN also launched a Gender Baseline Assessment report, themed ‘Strengthening Explosive Ordinance Threat-Mitigation Capacities Service Providers in North-East Nigeria’.

According to the report, Borno is the most impacted of all the three states with high records of explosive hazards.

“Borno State has been most impacted with reports of victim-activated devices detonated in 76 per cent of the Local Government Areas (LGAS), Adamawa and Yobe states are also affected as victim-activated devices have been detonated in 52 per cent of the LGA.

“For the BAY (Borno, Adamawa, Yobe) states, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) collated 1,366 incidents involving explosive hazards from January 2016 to April 2021,” the report said.