An explosive device killed two people at a school in the Nigerian capital, police said

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) – An explosive device exploded at a school on the outskirts of Nigeria’s capital on Monday, killing two people who were carrying the bomb and wounding two others, police said.

The IED was allegedly brought to Tsangagyar Sani Uthman Islamiyya School in Abuja council area of ​​Bwari by three men who were visiting the owner of the school, police spokesperson Josephine Adeh said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, two of them died when an explosive device was detonated on the balcony of the school, while the third man and a woman trader were seriously injured,” said Adeh.

The remains of the device confirmed that it was an IED explosion and the owner of the school has been detained for questioning, said a police spokesperson. Police did not elaborate.

The police did not say who the three men were except that they were visiting a school from the north-west state of Katsina, one of the states most affected by armed violence in northern Nigeria.

Nigeria’s capital Abuja has in recent years faced increasing security threats and attacks by local authorities often attributed to armed groups from surrounding states, many of which have been hit hard by violence.

Northern Nigeria, where Abuja is located, has experienced similar explosions in recent years, including in June last year when suicide bombers targeted a wedding, a funeral and a hospital treating the injured.

The planned attack took place in Borno state, which has been fighting a decade-long war with insurgents who started an insurgency that has spread to Nigeria’s northern neighbors Niger, Chad and Cameroon.