Police recover1,350 unexploded ordnance in Lagos

Police in Nigeria have recovered 1,350 unexploded bombs, mortar shells and other ordnance that had been scattered in Lagos following explosions caused by a fire on 27 January at a munitions dump, an official said.

Samuel Balogun, spokesman of the police bomb disposal unit, said on Wednesday that the ordnance was recovered from a three-mile radius around the Ikeja Military Cantonment, north of Lagos, where the munitions dump was located.

"So far we have recovered 1,350 unexploded ordnance, but the search for more is still going on," Balogun told journalists. He advised members of the public to be very careful about strange objects in their neighbourhoods and to report the discovery of such items to the police immediately. People, he said, should in particular refrain from burning bushes or refuse so as to avoid detonating yet undiscovered munitions.

More than 1,000 people died in the Ikeja disaster, according to official figures. Most of the victims were residents of the Oshodi-Isolo neighbourhood adjoining the military base, who drowned in the murky waters of a drainage canal while fleeing the explosions.

A team of U.S. and British bomb disposal experts have been in Nigeria over the past two weeks helping their Nigerian counterparts in the recovery and detonation of unexploded munitions. The U.S. Defence Attache to Nigeria, Colonel Victor Nelson, told journalists recently that another 60 US military experts would soon arrive in the country to help deal with the unexploded ordnance.

"America is giving assistance to Nigeria worth over (US) $1 million. Part of the assistance covers the training of experts and assessment of storage facilities," Nelson said.