•Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle.
The federal government will conduct a thorough investigation into Wednesday’s accidental bombing that killed 10 people in the Gidan Bisa and Runtuwa villages of Silame Local Government Area.
This was disclosed in a statement yesterday by the Press Secretary to Sokoto State Governor, Ahmad Aliyu.
He said the Minister of State, Defence, Bello Matawalle, gave this indication while on a condolence visit to Governor Ahmed Aliyu in Sokoto, reports Channels TV.
He described what happened in the two villages as very unfortunate and assured that a thorough probe would unravel what happened.
The minister also expressed optimism that justice would be done on the matter.
“Mr President is worried by the unfortunate incident and he asked me to come and condole you over what happened,” Matawalle said.
He also added that at times the military airstrikes hit the wrong locations due to the wrong information they may have been given while carrying out operations.
The minister said that security reports had confirmed that the area where the incident happened was being dominated by the Lakurawa bandits.
Responding, Governor Aliyu called on the military to improve their information gathering and surveillance to avoid hitting the wrong targets.
He commended the military and other security agencies for their commitment in making the state safe.
He thanked President Bola Tinubu for the concern he had shown over the accidental bombing of the two villages in the state.
Meanwhile, the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) blamed what it described as a “secondary explosion” for the death of “about ten persons” following strikes in Sokoto.
Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, said the deaths and injuries were due to “secondary explosions” and not a direct result of the strikes.
“Now, I spoke about secondary explosions. Because one of the targets was a logistic base of the terrorists in the community. When I talk of a logistics base, I’m talking of armed caches and poles that were kept there,” he said during a briefing at the DHQ in Abuja on Friday.
“So, naturally, when the munition hits, there will be a secondary explosion arising from that which will generate other things flying in the air which was what led to the death of about 10 persons that was reported. The 10 persons reported were not hit directly by the air strikes.
“The people who were hit directly by the air strikes were the Lakurawa terrorist groups, and they were burned beyond recognition.”
According to Buba, the military confirmed that the strikes hit the target – the terrorist group.
“To make sure that those that we saw at that location were indeed terrorists – the Lakurawa terrorist group. And we did that by sending human intelligence to confirm and they got back to us and confirmed and it was thereafter that we carried out – a joint operation, a combined synchronized operation with the Air Force and ground forces,” he said.
“Air Force carried out precision strikes using precision munitions. After the strikes, the land component on the ground moved on the site, and what did they confirm? They confirmed that ‘Yes, the strikes hit the objective.’ That is that.”
