There was palpable tension yesterday in Gombe town following the explosion of locally made bombs? on Wednesday night at a relaxation spot, Tunfure Resort, in the outskirts of? Gombe metropolis.
Speaking to newsmen, the manager of the resort, Ojego Nelson,? said that when the incident occurred, many of the customers got wounded while trying to escape,?? with no fewer than 15 of them seriously injured.?
He said as soon as the alleged bombers, numbering about six, started shooting sporadically, one of the bombs that was placed at the reception of the resort exploded and threw the whole place into chaos.
“The incident started around 16 minutes after 10pm. I was very close to the gate when three armed men walked into the gate and demanded that the security show them the manager.
“While interrogating him, they started manhandling him and beating him. When I wanted to intervene, they raised the rifle on me and aimed at me and was about cocking the AK 47 that had the Police official paint at the magazine.
“It’s still a mystery how I escaped because that was when they started shooting and I got this wound on my forehead and this dislocation on my arm,” he said.
He said after the sporadic shooting, the bomb placed in the reception exploded and damaged the door of the reception.
“I thought they were policemen who normally come for patrol coupled with the fact that I saw police paint at the cartridge of the AK 47,” he said.
I was however surprised when I wanted to know why they were beating my security man”.
He continued that “it was a very loud explosion and we latter found another set of explosives in a polythene leather bag close to the gate of our warehouse”.
However there was no lost of lives but many people were injured and at the press time the Police were cordoning-off the place with the Anti-bomb squad of the Gombe Government House going round the area.
According to? the Police Public Relations Officer PPRO Ahmed K Muhammad confirmed the incident and stated that they were still waiting for their bomb experts from Yola to come and remove what was left so as to make the place safe.
He said no arrest had been made so far and that they were still investigating. He however advised the public to be security conscious and report any suspicious characters around them to the Police.