‘Number Of Men, Children And Women Killed In Military Accidental Bombings Between 2017 And 2023’

There have been cases of military accidental bombings in Nigeria in the past few years, which have seen hundreds of innocent citizens lose their lives.

The recent event is the accidental bombing in Kaduna State, which left many villagers killed at Tudun Biri village in Kaduna State.

Naija News had earlier reported that the villagers were killed while celebrating Maulud at Tudun Biri, a community within the Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The Nigerian Army, on Monday, after a meeting with the Kaduna Government, took responsibility for the Air Strike on the villagers.

However, findings by Punch revealed that not less than four hundred and twenty-five people, including children and women, have been killed by military accidental bombings between September 2017 and 2023.

According to the platform, the figures were obtained from media reports of mishits by the military.

However, there may be more casualties because the number of victims in some cases was not specified.

Some of the incidents include the killing of about 52 people on January 17, 2017, while 120 others sustained injuries after a NAF jet accidentally bombed an Internally Displaced Persons camp in Rann, Borno state.

On December 4, 2017, the military sent a fighter jet to fire rockets at villages as a “warning.” Amnesty International said its team, which visited the state after the airstrike, confirmed that armless residents were attacked by the fighter jet as they attempted to flee.

About 11 people were killed and 20 others were injured from six airstrikes launched on April 9, 2019, in Dumbourou in Zurmi LGA.

Nine civilians, including three children, were killed in a strike by the Air Force in a rural community near the border with Niger on September 16, 2021, while 23 people were injured in that mishap.

Also, some villagers alleged that an airstrike by the military on September 26, 2021, killed no fewer than 20 residents in the area. To date, the Air Force has yet to own up to the incident, despite the villagers’ insistence.

In addition, seven children were killed and five injured while being targeted by terrorists in the neighbouring Niger Republic during an airstrike by the Air Force on February 20, 2022.

Another 13 residents were wounded, while one other died after a NAF fighter jet struck Kunkuna village in Safana LGA of Katsina, on July 7, 2022.

On December 13, 2022, the properties of residents were destroyed in a miscalculated airstrike in Kaduna. This happened to be the only mishit with no record of citizens killed.

At least 64 persons were killed and many injured in an airstrike by the NAF on December 19, 2022, at Mutumji Community in the Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

So far, there have been three cases in 2023, with the Air Force responsible for two and the Nigerian Army involved in one.

In 2023, there were three mishit cases by the Air Force. The first occurred in Niger State on January 24, which was said to have killed an unspecified number of special hunters of the Joint Security Task Force and residents.

Also on January 25, no fewer than 40 herders were killed, including four in Nasarawa State, during yet another accidental strike.

On Monday, no fewer than 85 persons were killed by a miscalculated airstrike from the Nigerian Army’s drone.