From Aloysius Attah and Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
AN explosion at Kara Market, along Atani Road, Ogbaru near Onitsha injured 12 persons and threw people into a panic.
An eyewitness said a young man carrying two devices exploded throwing many people off guard.
When Daily Sun visited the area yesterday morning, business activities were ongoing while the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) and two other police patrol vehicles were stationed opposite the area monitoring developments. Leader of the Hausa community in the area, Alhaji Sabo Mohammed told Daily Sun that they made frantic efforts to put out the fire and brought the situation un- der control.
However, he said 12 people around the scene were injured with eight among them in critical condition, saying they have been taken to different hospitals.
Anambra State Police Command, while confirming the incident through the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Okechukwu Ali noted that preliminary investigations have revealed that it was petrol that caught fire within the area and not bomb explosion as being speculated.
Meanwhile, Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano has visited the injured. The governor, who arrived Toronto Hospital, Onitsha where people who sustained various
degrees of burns in the explosion with his aides was quick to allay the fears of the residents on the incident and assured them that the state was safe.
He regretted that because of the prevailing scarcity of petrol, Nigerians had resorted to storing fuel in jerry cans in residential areas, thereby, exposing themselves to extreme danger and warned the people to desist from the habit as the consequences were often dire.
