Nigeria is investigating allegations that civilians were killed in an air strike

The Nigerian Air Force said Thursday it is investigating reports that civilians have been “mistakenly killed” in air strikes on Boko Haram jihadists in northern Yobe state.

Residents of the village of Buhari in Yunusari district, near the Niger border, told AFP that 10 people were killed and at least 19 injured in air strikes on Wednesday.

The Air Force has neither confirmed nor denied the alleged death toll.

“Reports arriving (at) the Nigerian Air Force headquarters alleged that some civilians were mistakenly killed while others were injured,” said spokesman Edward Gabkwet in a statement.

According to initial information, the aircraft carried “no bombs”.

But “a committee of inquiry has been set up to thoroughly investigate the circumstances of the incident,” he said.

Several local residents said three fighter jets flew over the village and one of them opened fire.

“Yesterday there was an air raid by a military jet on the village of Buhari, which left some victims,” ​​said local politician Alhaji Bukar Gaji.

“We buried 10 people … and 22 were taken to the general hospital in the (nearby) town of Geidam,” resident Grema Zanna told AFP.

Another resident, Masida Kyari, who gave a similar death toll, said “three jets flew over the village and one of them opened fire.”

Nigeria is fighting a twelve-year-old jihadist insurrection in the northeast that has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced nearly two million from their homes.

There have been at least two incidents in which civilians were killed in air strikes.

– ‘Wrong target’? –

Karim Modu, of an anti-jihadist militia in Geidam, who was hospitalized Wednesday, said he saw 19 people with serious injuries, including “burns, cracks and fractures”.

Some with more serious injuries were admitted to hospital in the state capital, Damaturu.

The Air Force said it dispatched a plane to an area along the Nigerian-Niger border on Wednesday “to respond to suspected terrorist activity”.

The story goes on

“The pilot fired some exploratory shots,” said Gabkwet spokesman, adding, “The area is known for continued Boko Haram / ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) activity”.

Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni said people were killed in an air strike on Buhari village but did not confirm the death toll.

“It could have been an accident or a wrong target, but the government will team up with security agencies to decipher the cause of the incident,” his spokesman Mamman Mohammed said in a statement.

In January 2017, at least 112 people were killed in the town of Rann, near the border with Cameroon, when a fighter jet hit a camp where 40,000 people were displaced by jihadist violence.

The Nigerian military blamed the bombing in a report released six months later “inadequate marking of the area”.

In July 2019, at least 13 civilians were killed when a Nigerian fighter jet struck the village of Gajiganna while targeting fleeing jihadists who attacked a nearby base.

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