Civilians mistakenly killed in airstrike on insurgents in Nigeria

At least ten civilians have been accidentally killed in a military raid on the base of an armed group in Nigeria’s northwestern state of Sokoto, the army reported on Friday.

The West African nation’s defense spokesperson, Edward Buba, told journalists that locals died in “secondary explosions” on Christmas Day when the air force targeted a hideout of the Lakurawa insurgent group in the Silame area.

“The air strike indeed hit the logistic base of the terrorist, which led to secondary explosions, and it was these secondary explosions that led to some casualties,” General Buba stated.

Nigeria has for years been a hotbed of terrorism, with Islamic State-affiliated organizations and Boko Haram carrying out frequent attacks. According to UN estimates, tens of thousands of people have been killed and 2 million displaced in the decade-long conflict between jihadists and the Nigerian government.

The army routinely conducts lethal bombing raids in its campaign against terror groups. Late last year, a Nigerian Air Force drone strike in Kaduna state killed 85 villagers at a religious ceremony, following a similar accident in 2022 in the Mutumji community in northwest Zamfara state, which claimed the lives of more than 62 civilians. In 2017, a fighter jet struck a camp housing 40,000 people displaced by jihadist violence in Rann, Borno State, killing at least 112 civilians.

In November, the Nigerian military warned that the Lakurawa insurgents, whom it described as a new militia group, were entering Africa’s most populous country’s northwest region from neighboring Niger and Mali.

According to army spokesperson Buba, the group began an incursion into the states of Sokoto and Kebbi after the coup in Niamey last year, which reportedly disrupted joint military operations along the Nigeria-Niger border.

Relations between Abuja and the military government in Niamey have been strained since the ouster of Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum in July 2023. Niger’s transitional leader, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, recently accused Nigeria of colluding with France, which he claims is financing armed groups in Sokoto, Zamfara, and Kebbi states, as well as within Benin, in an attempt to destabilize Sahel countries.