Nigeria's army accidentally kills more than 80 civilians in drone attack
The army admitted on Monday that it had accidentally hit villagers celebrating a Muslim festival in the village of Tudun Biri in Kaduna during a drone attack against armed militias on Sunday evening. The army initially gave no details of the number of casualties. Villagers also spoke of 85 dead, including many women, children and the elderly.
On Tuesday, the disaster control authority then confirmed that the local authorities had reported 85 deaths. 66 injured people were being treated in hospitals. The village elders initially did not agree to allow officials from the authority into the village.
"My aunt, my sister-in-law, her six children and the wives of my four brothers are among the dead," reported villager Idris Dahiru. "My elder brother's family is dead, except for his young child who survived."
President Tinubu expressed his "outrage and sadness" at the "tragic" deaths of the civilians. In a statement released by the presidential office, he spoke of an "unfortunate, disturbing and painful" incident.
Nigeria's armed forces are carrying out airstrikes against so-called bandit militias and jihadists in the north-west and north-east of the country. The criminal gangs are mainly active in north-western Nigeria and their bases are located deep in the forests. They raid and loot villages and kidnap residents to extort ransom money.
In north-eastern Nigeria, jihadists had also taken control of large areas, but were recently pushed back. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the fighting since 2009 and two million people have been displaced.
Nigeria's army has accidentally hit civilians several times during airstrikes. In September 2021, at least 20 fishermen were killed in an attack in Kwatar Daban Masara on Lake Chad in the north-east of the country. The army had mistaken them for fighters. In January 2017, at least 112 people were killed when an airstrike hit a refugee camp in the town of Rann near the border with Cameroon. The camp was home to 40,000 displaced people who had fled from the jihadists.
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Source: www.stern.de
