Defence Headquarters Authorities Probe Alleged Killings Of Civilians In Zamfara By NAF Jets

The Defence Headquarters, Abuja, Nigeria’s military high command, has said it commenced an investigation on the alleged killings of innocent civilians last Sunday in airstrikes targeted at terrorists by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) at Mutumji community in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

The Director, Defence Media Operations (DMO), Maj Gen Musa Danmadami, who disclosed this in Abuja, stated that the airstrikes were targeted solely at bandits who invaded the area in their hundreds on motorcycles.

Danmadami, while responding to questions at a media briefing on an update on military operations conducted in the last three weeks, said the military had set up a board to investigate the matter.

Lamenting the deaths of some soldiers from the ground forces during the operations, he said the number of soldiers killed was over-exaggerated in the media.

He added that the number of civilians killed had not been officially communicated to the military by the Zamfara State government.

He said, “Investigation has been ordered into the operation to ascertain if actually there was collateral damage and equally the number of people that were involved

“So, for now, we cannot give you any specific number as to the level of collateral damage that happened during that incident so as not to jeopardise the investigation that is ongoing.

“The air bombardment was a precision bombardment and a lot of terrorists were equally neutralised during the operations.”

Danmadami said in the last three weeks, soldiers fighting the counter-insurgency war in the North East had killed 103 members of the Boko Haram and Islamic State of West Africa State Province (ISWAP), terrorists in the last three weeks.

He said they also arrested 40 terrorists including four commanders and rescued 30 kidnapped victims.