The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has denied reports that 23 civilians were killed last weekend in Jika da Kolo community, Giwa LGA of Kaduna state, during an air strike targeting insurgents.
On Monday, the NAF said the air component of Operation Whirl Punch (OPWP) killed scores of terrorists and destroyed logistics base of terrorists at Yadi forest in the LGA.
However, the community reportedly accused the air force of mistakenly killing 23 people during the launch.
The villagers said among the victims were farmers and children who were in the community mosque on the day.
“The strike disfigured the bodies of most of those affected,” a villager said.
“We gathered body parts of 23 people who were identified by relatives, including children and they have been buried.
“Of course, Yadin Kidandan is a danger zone because it is under the control of bandits.
“But there are also innocent villagers who still live around there because they have no other place to go just like the casualties that we witnessed on Friday.
“So, we discovered that when the strike occurred, most of the people at the mosque died.
“It was a crowded place because there was a local market close to the mosque which was also affected. The incident happened around 2pm.”
The locals urged the federal and Kaduna state governments to investigate the incident.
‘WE DON’T STRIKE ANYHOW’
Reacting, Kabiru Ali, NAF deputy director, public relations and information, denied that the force accidentally killed civilians.
Ali said before NAF troops embark on any operation, due diligence is always done to ensure the safety of communities.
He said the NAF operation took place on Friday in the forest, emphasising that there was no mosque in the location.
“The community is not telling the truth, there is nothing like that. There is no how NAF will strike bandits close to town or any community,” he said.
“We usually monitor the bandits movements, we can take two to four days monitoring them until they enter where we think is safe for everybody, then we strike them. We don’t strike bandits anyhow.
“If you look at the pictures, there is nothing like mosque close to that place.
“The place is inside the bush, so how can a mosque be inside the bush? Our operations have changed. Before we strike, we have to scan the area. We dispatched surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft to scan the area.
“So we normally strike them inside the bush not within the community. That is why we normally release the pictures of our operations so that people can see it.”
Since 2017, over 300 civilians have been reportedly killed in accidental air strikes conducted by NAF.
