It was a shocking discovery at the Umuoma Autonomous Community in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State at the weekend when indigenes uncovered an undetonated bomb buried in a family compound since the civil war years.
The bomb, suspected to have been laid during the civil war, was buried deep in the soil in one Igbokwe’s compound at Ukwo-Umuoma.
A police source told National Mirror that the bomb was uncovered after several days of rainfall that washed away the top soil, exposing the edge of the bomb suspected to have been buried for over 40 years.
It was not clear whether the bomb was laid by the Nigerian troops or their Biafran counterparts, but a source said the area was the base of Biafran troops when Owerri sector fell to Federal troops during the war.
Some children were playing in the compound after the rain when one of them observed “a strange object” buried in the soil with a part of it revealed, one of the villagers told our correspondent.
According to the source; “The people in the compound did not know that they have been living with a destructive weapon for over 40 years.”
It was learnt that on discovery, the people raised the alarm which attracted passers-by who on close examination suspected it to be an explosive, before they reported the matter at a nearby police station. A police source said that the Anti-Bomb Squad of State Police Command was contacted to detonate the bomb.
“The police bomb experts detonated the bomb at a nearby bush,” the police source said. When the state Police Public Relations Officer, Joy Elemoko, was contacted, she confirmed the incident.
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