PANIC LOOMS AS AIR FORCE ACCIDENTALLY FIRES MISSLE IN PORT HARCOURT'S RESIDENTIAL AREA

VANGUARD PORT HARCOURT -An explosive device on
Friday went off on a twin storey building in Woji part of Port Harcourt creating panic
and tension in the area.
Mr Eric Chioma who described himself as landlord of number 75 Woji road, Rumurolu where the incident occurred said the explosive looked like it came from a rocket launcher.

Chioma who was still shivering from the tension created by the explosion while talking to the Vanguard said he heard the deafening sound at about 7:30am.
Adding that what he saw when he rushed out was a thick cloud of smoke all over his building. He said on further inspection he noticed that the explosive device first landed on a Primera saloon car with registration number DX 879 KRD Lagos packed at a side in his compound before making a hole on his two rooms upstairs.

The landlord, Mr Chioma said he was grateful to God almighty that nobody sustained injury or died in the ugly development. He further appealed passionately to the state government to get to the root of the matter.
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr Mohammed Indabawa who spoke on the
incident said the explosion came from an object in a helicopter belonging to the Air force that was on overfly at that region in Port-Harcourt.

Describing it as accidental he confirmed the damage it caused on the Primera saloon car parked in the compound. The Police boss further said the incident had nothing to do
with acts of terrorism.

Meanwhile, at the neighbourhood nobody
could confirm if they saw any helicopter on overfly at the time the explosion occurred.
They said minutes after the explosion Police on patrol stormed the place. Vanguard
gathered that the Police anti bomb unit, the state Police Commissioner, men from the Air force base and other top security operatives in the state were among those that came to assess the situation.

Landlord of the building, Mr Chioma said that the Police anti bomb unit went with the explosive device that appeared to him like a rocket launcher.
The effect of the explosion could be noticed as several glass doors on some of the lock up shops around the building were also shattered by the blast.