Chairman, Talata Mafara Local Government in Zamfara, Yahaya Yari, has confirmed the death of two persons following a locally made gun powder explosion that occured at a weekly market in Talata Mafara town.

Yari, who confirmed the incident to reporters in a telephone interview on Wednesday, said the ugly incident injured more than 44 persons, stating that the incident occurred in the afternoon while activities of the weekly market were ongoing at a place where locally made guns were displayed for sale.

The Chairman therefore prayed to Allah to prevent recurrence of such incident, as he appealed to people of the state to continue to pray for sustainable peace and stability in the state and the country in general.

“When the incident happened, we immediately took emergency response which controlled the situation and took the victims to hospital.

“After receiving minor treatment at Talata Mafara General Hospital, we took all the 44 injured victims to Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto for further treatment.

“Out of the 44 victims, two have died, the remaining 42 are currently responding to treatment,” the chairman explained.