Residents of Oke Mushin area of Lagos woke to shock and confusion on Monday morning following an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion.

 

The explosion which occurred at 22, Wey Street in Oke Mushin, was traced to an IED planted underneath a Toyota Sienna with registration number Lagos AAA11FX, parked overnight by a resident said to have moved into the area barely three months ago.

According to residents, the owner of the vehicle had gone to start the engines before 6.a.m. probably to leave for work when a bomb detonated at the passenger side and injured him.

The incident panicked residents and shop owners in the community, triggering a swift security response that brought the Commissioner of Police, CP Tijani Fatai, and bomb disposal experts to the scene which has since been cordonned off.

It was observed that the passenger side of the vehicle was blown out and replaced with sheets of transparent polythene taped over the frames; the body scorched and smeared with gunpowder, while broken glasses still littered the ground beneath the doors.

The CP said that the victim’s account was being reviewed as part of ongoing investigations.

The Baale of Oke Mushin, Chief Tajudeen Lasisi Farunbi, said he received a distress call around 6am and rushed to the scene, where he found the vehicle with parts of it shattered. He immediately alerted the Area Commander and the Divisional Police Officer, and urged bystanders not to touch the car until security forces arrived.

The Baale said he had no prior information about the vehicle’s owner, only that the car had been parked in the area for two to three months.