Premium Times
January 17, 2017 Nike Adebowale and Abdulkareem Haruna
IDPs
Several people are feared dead after a military plane mistakenly dropped a bomb inside the Rann IDP camp in Borno State.
The Rann IDP camp in Kala-balge Local Government Area caters for thousands of persons displaced by Boko Haram.
A source at the camp told PREMUM TIMES that at least hundred people were injured and needed to be evacuated to hospitals.
At least two people are feared dead from the incident and the injured included officials of the Doctors without Borders, MSF.
The military spokesperson, Rabe Abubakar, a brigadier general, confirmed the incident but explained that it was an error that the military deeply regretted.
He explained that soldiers got information of movement of Boko Haram members and deployed ground troops and air cover to tackle the terrorists.
It was the air support that mistakenly dropped the bomb, he said.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the state government has already ordered all hospitals in Maiduguri to be prepared to receive and promptly treat the injured.
Also, an International Red Cross, ICRC, helicopter has been deployed to the camp to evacuated the wounded to the various hospitals.
The Theatre Commander of Nigerian forces in Borno, Lucky Irabor, a major general, also confirmed the attack at a press conference.
“This morning today, we received reports about gathering of Boko Haram terrorists somewhere in Kala Balge Local Government area of Borno State. We got a coordinate and I directed that the air should go to address the problem.
“Unfortunately the strike was conducted but it turned out that the locals somewhere in Rann were affected.
“We are yet to get the details of the casualties. But we have some civilians that have been killed, others are wounded and we also have two of our soldiers that were also wounded. Among some that are wounded are local staffs of the Medicine Sans Frontiers as well as ICRC,” he said.
Reuters
The Nigerian air force killed an unknown number of civilians by accident in an air strike on Tuesday against Islamist militant group Boko Haram in the northeast, a military official said.
Regional military commander General Lucky Irabor said the strike took place on Tuesday morning at Kala Balge local government in Borno state.
“Somehow, some civilians were killed. We are yet to ascertain the number of persons killed in the air strike,” Irabor told reporters in the northeastern city of Maiduguri.
“Many civilians including personnel of International Committee of the Red Cross and Medicins Sans Frontieres were wounded,” he said, adding that the air force had acted on information that Boko Haram militants were in the area.
ICRC and MSF could not immediately be contacted for a comment.
Boko Haram has stepped up attacks in the last few weeks as the end of the rainy season has enabled its fighters to move more easily in the bush. The northeast has been the focus of the jihadist group’s seven-year-old bid to create an Islamic caliphate.
(Reporting by Lanre Ola,; writing by Alexis Akwagyiram, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
