The Federal Government says it will conduct a holistic investigation into the accidental bombing that claimed the lives of no fewer than 10 people in the Gidan Bisa and Runtuwa villages of Silame Local Government Area of Sokoto State.
This was disclosed in a statement on Friday by the Press Secretary to Sokoto State Governor, Ahmad Aliyu.
According to him, the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, gave the indication while on a condolence visit to Governor Ahmed Aliyu in Sokoto.
Matawalle described the incident as very unfortunate, assuring that a thorough probe would unravel what happened.
The minister also expressed optimism that justice would be done on the matter.
“Mr President is worried by the unfortunate incident and he asked me to come and condole you over what happened,” Matawalle said.
According to the Minister, military airstrikes at times hit the wrong locations due to the wrong information they may have been given while carrying out operations.
He added that security reports had confirmed that the area where the incident happened was being dominated by the Lakurawa bandits.
Newspot recalls that a fighter jet mistakenly bombed two communities in the Silame Local Government Area of Sokoto State on Wednesday morning.
Responding, Gov. Aliyu urged the military to improve their information gathering and surveillance to avoid hitting the wrong targets.
He, however, applauded the military and other security agencies for their commitment in making the state safe.
He thanked President Bola Tinubu for the concern he had shown over the accidental bombing of the two villages in the state.
Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters, DHQ, blamed what it described as a secondary explosion for the death of about 10 persons.
Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, said the deaths and injuries were due to secondary explosions and not a direct result of the strikes.
“Now, I spoke about secondary explosions. Because one of the targets was a logistic base of the terrorists in the community. When I talk of a logistics base, I’m talking of armed caches and poles that were kept there.
“So, naturally, when the munition hits, there will be a secondary explosion arising from that which will generate other things flying in the air which was what led to the death of about 10 persons that was reported. The 10 persons reported were not hit directly by the air strikes.
“The people who were hit directly by the air strikes were the Lakurawa terrorist groups, and they were burned beyond recognition,” he said.
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