In its years-long fight against insurgents and predatory bandits terrorising the northern part of the country, the Nigerian military has committed crimes against humanity, killing at least 405 armless civilians in mistargeted air raids.
The latest of the horrific raids took place two days ago, when a military drone shelled locals commemorating the birth of Prophet Muhammad [Peace be unto Him]. The accidental shelling killed over 80 devotees and others sustained injuries. Those who sustained injuries were taken to Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital in Kaduna on Monday, according to news reports.
Hitherto, news reports fingered the country’s military air component, the Nigerian Air Force; but it denied orchestrating the air raid. Later, the Nigerian Army took responsibility for the bombing.
In a meeting that was held by the deputy governor, Dr Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe, and attended by heads of security agencies, religious and traditional leaders, the Nigerian Army explained the circumstances that led to the attack.
General Officer Commanding (GOC) One Division Nigerian Army, Major V.U. Okoro, said the army was on a routine mission against terrorists but unfortunately mistargeted the locals.
While the government vowed to compensate the victims of the bombing, Samuel Aruwan, Overseeing Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Kaduna State, said search and rescue operations were still ongoing.
From North East to North Central and North West – Timeline of Military Accidental Raids
Starting in 2014, WikkiTimes documented a series of accidental airstrikes that had killed locals, aid workers and animals in places like Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina, Niger, Nasarawa and Borno states. Sadly, the military never took responsibility for some of the attacks.
February 28, 2014: A Nigerian military airstrike killed 20 villagers in Daglun, a village in Borno State.
March 16, 2014: At least 10 civilians were killed by a military airstrike attack on Kayamla, a Borno village less than 10 kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. In both attacks, the military denied knowledge of civilian casualties, according to Human Rights Watch.
January 17, 2017: Initially, no fewer than 70 displaced persons, including aid workers were killed by a military airstrikes that hit an informal Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Rann, Kala Balge LGA of Borno State. The casualty figure later rose to 115, according to a BBC report. Over 100 locals were reportedly injured in the attack.
April 26, 2021: This accidental air attack claimed the lives of 20 men of the Nigerian Army who were reinforced from Ngandu village and were said to be on their way to Mainok, headquarters of the Kaga Local Government Area of Borno State, according to Sahara Reporters.
June 13, 2021: An offensive aerial bombardment of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Alpha jet carried out around Genu town in Niger State resulted in the killing of some wedding guests. The strike, according to reports, neutralised some fleeing armed bandits. It was gathered that some herds of rustled cows were also killed by an airstrike, which was scrambled from a military base in Katsina State.
September 15, 2021: No fewer than 10 locals in Buhari village, Yunusari Local Government of Yobe State, were killed in an airstrike launched by Nigerien Air Force while chasing Boko Haram fighters into the village. The village, according to reports share a border with Niger Republic.
However, the state governor, Mai Mala-Buni, directed government hospitals in Geidam and Damaturu to offer free medical services to about 20 locals who suffered injuries in the disaster.
Buni also directed his Special Adviser on Security Affairs, Dahiru Abdulsalan, to liaise with the Nigeria Air Force and the Multi-National Joint Task Force to identify the root cause of the strike.
Read Also: ‘Bomb from the Sky’ — Survivors of Military Airstrike in Nasarawa Village Recount Ordeal
April 13, 2022: Military aircraft hovering around the airspace of Kurebe village in Shiroro LGA, Niger State, killed six minor girls. The girls identified as Maryam Lawal, Hafeezah Basiru, Shamsiyah Lawal, Shafaatu Jamilu, Asmau Isa, and Hakumi Danlami were killed near a mobile borehole situated somewhere in the village. They would be buried in three graves. The Niger State government and the Nigeria Air Force defended the bombardment, claiming the village is a stronghold of terrorists.
July 06, 2022: At least, one person was killed and 13 others injured in yet another mistargeted air raid on Kunkuna village, Safana LGA, Katsina State, according to a report by TheCable.
August 12, 2022: Five months after killing the innocent girls in Kurebe, an aircraft of the Nigerian Air Force returned to the same village, killing at least, eight unsuspecting villagers. The slain villagers include seven males and one female.
October 31, 2022: In another miscalculated raid, Nigerian Air Force afflicted the family of one Alhaji Mallam Iliya in Garun Gabas village of Kagara-Rafi local council, Niger State, bombing his 25 cattle.
WikkiTimes had reported that Marauding terrorists invaded some villages along the axis where they rustled cows and displaced some residents. In a seemingly mistreated counter-attack, a military jet landed in Garun Gabas killing Iliya’s cattle located about a kilometre from his house.
December 19, 2022: An unspecified number of villagers lost their lives to an accidental air raid on Mutumji community in Maru LGA, Zamfara State. The military brazenly denied civilian casualties during the raid.
Read Also: NAF Jet Mistakenly Bombed Over 20 Cows in Niger. Family Now in Despiar
January 24, 2023: Some 39 Fulani herders became victims of a mistargeted air raid on this day at Kwatiri village in Doma local area, Nasarwa State. Survivors of the raid told Umna Rights Watch that officers of the Benue State Livestock Guards, enforcing the Benue State Anti-Open Grazing Law, seized over 1,000 cows from nomadic herders who were grazing cattle in Naka, a Benue suburb bordering Nasarawa State. They were, however, fined N27 million for crossing into Benue State.
The law, according to the rights organisation’s report, prohibits the movement of livestock on foot within the state. After paying the fine, the officials advised them to move the cattle by truck to the village where the military airstrike rained the bomb on them.
January 26, 2023: About 30 local vigilantes stationed at a village in banditry-ravaged Shiroro LGA, Niger State, were killed by shellings from a military aircraft. The vigilantes were positioned to repel a bandit’s attack in Galadima Kogo.
August 17, 2023: A Nigerian Air Force aircraft on a reprisal mission killed an unspecified number of civilians in Kwaki village around Chukuba, Shiroro LGA, Niger State. This, WikkiTimes earlier reported, was in response to an attack against the operatives of the force by the Dogo Gide terror group.
