Nigerian military strike “error” kills 31 – mostly women and children

A military attack in a community in Kaduna state on Sunday night killed at least 31 residents, many of them women and children, witnesses say.

The Kaduna government said the strike occurred in error as troops chased after terrorists in the area. It did not give a figure of the death toll.

Commissioner for Internal Security Samuel Aruwan said “several citizens” were killed or injured. He said the Nigerian Army had explained the circumstances which led to the “unfortunate and unintended attack.”

“The General Officer Commanding One Division Nigerian Army, Major Gen. VU Okoro explained that the Nigerian Army was on a routine mission against terrorists but inadvertently affected members of the community,” Aruwan said in a statement.

He said search-and-rescue efforts were still ongoing, as dozens of injured victims have been evacuated to Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital.

Residents said the attack at Tudun Biri village in the Igabi local government area was carried out by a military aircraft and at least 31 people died.

The victims were mostly children and women who were celebrating the Islamic Maulud festival, Premium Times reported.

One resident, Garba Haruna, told the newspaper that over 29 bodies were recovered late Sunday and many others remained missing.

The Nigerian Air Force denied carrying out the attack. Spokesperson Edward Gabkwet said that the NAF had not carried out any air operations within Kaduna State and environs in the last 24 hours.

He said the air force was not the only organisation operating armed drones in the North-western region of Nigeria.

Not the first

The Nigerian military has repeatedly conducted attacks from the air that have killed civilians. At least 147 citizens were killed between September 2021 and January 2023 in nine mistaken strikes.

One of the most notable of such incidents occurred in 2017 in Rann, Borno state, when an airstrike, which Nigerian officials described as a mistake, killed at least 90 people, the majority of them women and children.

Residents and community leaders said as many as 170 died.