On Wednesday, a fighter plane operated by the Nigerian Air Force hit Kunkuna hamlet in Katsina State’s Safana Local Government Area, killing an unknown number of civilians.
Though facts of the event are still vague, it was learned that the military jet’s pilots “accidentally” struck the wrong coordinates while targeting a bandit camp in the vicinity.
“A military jet earlier today dropped airstrikes on Kunkuna Village in Safana Local Government Area of Katsina State. We cannot confirm the number of casualties now,” a source said.
The need for military action in the state may not be unconnected to the incident that took place on Tuesday on Tuesday when terrorists attacked an advance team in the convoy of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Villagers in Northeastern Nigeria have previously reported civilian fatalities from aircraft bombardments.
In 2020, a military plane responding to a Boko Haram onslaught dropped a bomb that fell in a compound where people were getting their children christened.
In April 2021, a fighter plane on a mission against Boko Haram militants accidentally bombed troops of the Nigerian Army, killing almost 20 commanders.
The reinforcements from Ngandu village were said to be on their way to Mainok, the headquarters of Borno state’s Kaga Local Government Area, which was under attack by militants from the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), formerly known as Jam’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihad.
Some of the Chibok schoolgirls, who were abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 and released last year, also claimed that three of their classmates were murdered by Air Force bombings.
An aggressive aerial bombardment by the NAF Alpha jet conducted out near Genu town in Niger State in June 2021 resulted in the death of some wedding attendees.
A military airplane struck a community in Yobe State’s Yunusari Local Government Area in September 2021, killing around ten residents.
A few days later, an Air Force fighter dropped a bomb on a Nigerian village near Lake Chad.
In February 2022, a Nigerian Air Force airstrike targeting bandits in Niger Republic accidentally killed seven children and injured five more.
