Some suspected hoodlums who were allegedly prevented from looting a mini mart located inside a burning fuel station attacked some firemen and soldiers drafted to the scene.
It was gathered that a soldier and two personnel of the Kwara State Fire Service were injured in the process while carrying out a rescue operation at K&R Filling Station, Oke Agodi, Alfa Yahaya area in Ilorin metropolis on Tuesday night.
According to a resident, Mallam Oniwa, the firemen arrived at the scene shortly after the hoodlums had started looting the mini mart.
“They were not happy with the arrival of the firemen at that time which they thought would prevent them from the looting. The arrival of the soldiers to protect the firemen did little or nothing to deter them as the hoodlums threw stones and other objects on them, injuring some in the process,” Oniwa added.
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Although it was gathered that the soldiers eventually restored normalcy in the area while the firemen were also able to put off the fire, two vehicles and two offices were burnt.
The spokesman of Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, confirmed the incident while speaking with our reporter on Wednesday.
Adekunle said, “Two firemen were seriously injured while one of the Nigerian Army team that came to calm the situation was also hit at the head by a heavy stone and soaked with blood”.
“But for the decision of the soldiers not to fire in the face of provocation, it would have been worse.
“Property lost to the fire was estimated at N21.7m.”
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