Afrigather Two Nigerian army officers will face a courtroom martial over a December drone strike that killed at the least 85 civilians, the Protection Headquarters stated on Thursday.
The December 3 assault was one of many nation’s worst airstrike errors. The Nigerian army acknowledged the drone by chance struck a village in northwest Kaduna State, killing residents as they celebrated a Muslim competition.
The army is determined by aerial assaults to fight Islamic militants within the northeast and armed kidnapping gangs within the northwest. It stated it misinterpreted the spiritual gathering of villagers as armed felony gangs and apologized for the error.
“It’s hoped that there can be no repeat of strikes on non-combatants in ongoing operations,” it stated. “The army will take additional precautions sooner or later to make sure that non-combatants are secure.”
Protection Headquarters spokesperson Main Common Edward Buba stated the strike ought to have by no means occurred.
“The army has carried out a painstaking investigation into the incident and has initiated disciplinary motion towards these culpable,” he stated.
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu known as the error “disturbing” and ordered an investigation in December.
The United Nations human rights workplace stated the drone strike was the newest of at the least 4 airstrikes since 2017 that brought about vital civilian fatalities. It known as on the federal government to take steps to guard civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Some info for this report got here from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
