Nigerian Air Force (NAF) on Thursday admitted its aircraft was responsible for the accidental bombing at Buhari village in Yunusari local government of Yobe State.
A fighter jet on Wednesday killed eight civilians, injured over 20 during an aerial bombardment on the village.
Chairman of the local government, Bukar Gaji, confirmed the incident to journalists, but NAF spokesperson Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet denied the incident on the service’s Twitter account.
However, the spokesperson on Thursday made a U-turn and admitted that the incident happened, but attributed his initial denial to the fact that the aircraft did not carry bombs, with the contradiction that Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists were the targets of the bombardment.
“Following intelligence on Boko Haram/ISWAP movements along the Komadugu Yobe River line, an aircraft from the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai was detailed to respond to the suspected terrorists’ activities in the area along the Nigeria/Niger border at about 0600hrs on 15 September 2021,” he said.
“The aircraft while operating south of Kanama observed suspicious movement consistent with Boko Haram terrorists’ behaviour whenever a Jet aircraft is overhead.
“Accordingly, the pilot fired some probing shots. It is important to state that the area is well known for continuous Boko Haram /ISWAP activities. Unfortunately, reports reaching Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Headquarters alleged that some civilians were erroneously killed while others were injured.”
“Initial release denying the involvement of NAF aircraft was based on the first report available to the Air Component which was subsequently forwarded to NAF headquarters that civilians were bombed as the aircraft detailed for the mission was not carrying bombs. Therefore a Board of Inquiry has been set up to thoroughly investigate the circumstances of the incident.”
This was not the first time the NAF aircraft was bombing civilian settlements. In January 2017, NAF fighter jet killed 57 Internally Displaced People (IDPs) at a camp in Rann, headquarters of Kala-balge local government area. The Nigerian military later gave the excuse that “lack of appropriate marking’’ caused the airstrike.
