10 civilians killed in ‘accidential’ Nigerian army strike

KANO, Nigeria: Air strikes by Nigerian military forces targeting suspected jihadists in the northwest Sokoto state killed 10 civilians and injured six others, local officials said on Thursday.

The strikes were aimed at positions of the Lakurawa jihadist group in a forest in Silame district but instead hit Gidan Bisa and Runtawa, two villages on the edge of the forest, destroying homes and livestock.

“Two military jets carried out the attacks on the two villages during an operation against Lakurawa terrorists in nearby Surame forest around 7:00 am (0600GMT),” said Abubakar Muhammad, the local administrator of Silame, who attended the funeral of the victims.

“We lost 10 people in the incident while six others were injured. Many homes, livestock and grain silos were destroyed in the airstrikes.”

Sokoto´s state governor Ahmad Aliyu blamed the deaths on an “accidental misfire from the Nigerian Army”, without giving a toll.

Aliyu said he was in contact with the Nigerian military to seek a “thorough investigation” on the cause of the incident that caused “avoidable loss of life.”