Explosive device kills 2 at a school near Nigeria's capital, police say

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ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — An improvised explosive device detonated at a school on the outskirts of Nigeria’s capital Monday, killing two people who were handling the bomb and injuring two others, police said.

The IED was suspected to have been brought to the Tsangagyar Sani Uthman Islamiyya School in Abuja’s Bwari council area by three men visiting the school's owner, police spokeswoman Josephine Adeh said in a statement.

“Tragically, two of the men died in the explosion while tampering with the improvised explosive device on the school veranda, while the third man and a female trader sustained severe injuries,” Adeh said.

Remnants of the device confirmed it was an IED explosion and the school owner was taken into custody for questioning, the police spokesperson said. Police did not elaborate further.

The police did not say who the three men were other than they were visiting the school from northwestern Katsina state, one of the states worst hit by armed violence in northern Nigeria.

Nigeria’s capital Abuja has in recent years faced growing security threats and attacks that local authorities often attribute to armed groups from surrounding states, most of which are hard hit with violence.

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

The coordinated attacks happened in Borno state, which has been battling a decade-long war against extremists who launched an insurgency that has spilled over to Nigeria’s northern neighbors Niger, Chad and Cameroon.