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The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has opened up on why it first denied killing civilians in an attack carried out in Buhari village, Yunusari Local Government Area of Yobe State.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports NAF’s fighter jet on Wednesday morning killed nine people in the village, but the Air Force denied being culpable.
However, NAF has explained that the initial release denying the involvement of it’s aircraft was based on a first report available to the Air Component, which was subsequently forwarded to NAF headquarters.
Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF Headquarters, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet gave the explanation in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
He opined that the report stated that civilians were bombed, and that the confusion resulted as the aircraft detailed for the mission was not carrying bombs.
Gabkwet explained that based on the report, a Board of Inquiry had since been set up to thoroughly investigate the circumstances of the incident.
“Following intelligence on insurgents movements along the Kamadougou Yobe River line, an aircraft from the Air Component of ‘Operation Hadin Kai’ was detailed to respond to the suspected insurgents activities in the area along the Nigeria/Niger border at about 0600hrs on Sept 15.
“The aircraft while operating South of Kanama observed suspicious movement consistent with the insurgents’ behaviour whenever a Jet aircraft was overhead.
“Accordingly, the pilot fired some probing shots. It is important to state that the area is well known for continuous insurgents activities.
“But unfortunately, reports reaching NAF Headquarters alleged that some civilians were erroneously killed while others were injured,” Gabkwet stated.
Meanwhile, Gov. Mai Mala-Buni of Yobe has directed government hospitals in Geidam and Damaturu to offer free medical services to those who sustained injuries in the disaster.
This is contained in a statement by Mr Buni’s spokesperson, Mamman Mohammed, in Damaturu on Thursday.
Buni also directed the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to provide relief materials to victims.