Hundreds of motorists were yesterday stranded along Gusau-Tsafe-Funtua road, Zamfara State, following rumours that bandits had planted several bombs on the road.
The motorists had to park their vehicles along the road for fear of the explosives, while others who were lucky to maneuver their vehicles returned to their respective destinations.
An indigene of the area, Adamu Mohammed said tension gripped commuters flying the road after suspected bandits reportedly planted many Improvised Explosive Devices, IED, on the busy road.
Mohammed said the incident occurred yesterday morning when it was alleged that bandits had planted IEDs last night at the same location where a similar explosive was planted last Wednesday.
He said, “Motorists were left stranded for hours for fear of possible explosion, while many abandoned their journeys and went into hiding.”
However, the spokesperson of the state police command, DSP Yazid Abubakar told journalists that it was the police command that directed motorists not to travel on the road until it is cleared by IED detectors.
Abubakar stressed that security personnel embarked on inspection tour of the road to ascertain its safety.
He added that, “We did not come across any IED, as such, we asked the commuters to go about their journey”.
Although normalcy has returned to the area, residents are still entertaining fear of bomb explosions.
It would be recalled that there was a bomb explosion last Wednesday on the same road, where a trailer was seriously damaged.
