Home FEATURES Buhari Describes Bombing Of Civilian Community By Soldiers As Regrettable Operational Mistake

Buhari Describes Bombing Of Civilian Community By Soldiers As Regrettable Operational Mistake

Buhari 4President Muhammadu Buhari has described the accidental bombing of a civilian community in Rann, Borno State, by the Nigerian Air Force, engaged in the final phase of mopping up insurgents, North East as regrettable operational mistake.
In a statement by his special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, the President promised that his government would assist Borno state government in attending to “this regrettable operational mistake.”
The President who said that he received the mistaken bombing with deep sadness and regret, pleaded for calm, even as he prayed to God to grant repose to the souls of the dead.
President Buhari wished the wounded divine succour, leading to full recovery even as he sympathized with the the families of the victims as well as the Borno State government.
The Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Lucky Irabor confirmed while speaking to newsmen in Maiduguri that the military conducted airstrike on a location where Boko Haram were reported to have gathered.
“We got information that Boko Haram terrorists were gathering somewhere in Kala Balge Local Government. We coordinate our air component and strike the location but somehow, some civilians were killed,” he said.
General Irabor disclosed that some civilians and two humanitarian workers from the International Committee on Red Cross (ICRC) and Medicine Sans Frontiers (MSF) were wounded in the incident which he described as disturbing.
“Two of our soldiers were also wounded,” he added.
He said the military has already sent helicopter to evacuate the wounded persons.
He could not comment on whether or not the incident was a tactical error by the military. He said it was rather the cost of war, even as he asked the people to work together to ensure that peace returned to the troubled Northeast states. He said that the military will investigate the cause of the problem.
“It is too early for us to determine whether it was an error or not. We have at no time targeted the civilians whenever we carried out our operations and wherever they are gathered,” he maintained.
He said that the military was yet to ascertain the number of persons killed in the airstrike, adding that the death of innocent person in the course of operation was rather disturbing to the military authority and the institution. [myad]

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