2023-12-05 08:18:37
A drone strike by the Nigerian army mistakenly killed and injured dozens of civilians who were celebrating a religious festival in a northwest village on Sunday. Emergency services announced Monday that at least 85 people had died in the accident, many of them women and children.
Published on: 05/12/2023 – 09:18
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It is an unspeakable fiasco for the Nigerian army. A drone accidentally killed at least 85 civilians on Sunday in a village in the northwestern state of Kaduna, emergency officials said Tuesday (December 5), in one of the accidents of the deadliest military air strikes in the country.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu also ordered an investigation on Tuesday after the army admitted that one of its drones had accidentally struck the village of Tudun Biri while residents were celebrating a Muslim festival.
The army did not give casualty figures, but residents said 85 people, many of them women and children, were killed.
“The North West Zonal Office has received information from local authorities that 85 bodies have been buried so far, while searches continue,” the National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) said in a statement.
Fight against armed groups
Nema said 66 other people were being treated in hospital, but emergency officials were still negotiating with local traditional leaders to ease tensions and be able to reach the village.
“President Tinubu describes the incident as very unfortunate, disturbing and painful, and expresses his outrage and sorrow at the tragic loss of Nigerian lives,” the presidency said in a statement.
Nigeria’s armed forces have often resorted to airstrikes in their fight against militias known as “bandits” in the northwest and northeast of the country, where terrorist groups have been waging a 14-year conflict.
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