Sokoto Airstrikes: Civilian Deaths Result Of Secondary Explosions-DHQ
By Anne Osemekeh, Abuja
The Defence Headquarters has said that the deaths of the 10 civilians during the December 25 airstrikes by Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter jets, was as a result of secondary explosions, and not the airstrikes themselves.
This was contained in a statement on Friday by the Director of Defence Media Operations (DMO), Maj. Gen. Edward Buba.
Recall that, following the air interdiction by troops of Operation FASAN YAMMA to destroy Lakurawa Terrorist Group (LTG) hideouts at Gidan Bisa and Gidan Runtuwa in Jirikon Forest, the Sokoto state government said no fewer than 10 civilians were killed as a result of the airstrikes.
Maj. Gen. Buba explained that prior to the operation, there was heightened terrorists activities in the area, adding that “the military conducted sustained Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions for over extended periods to painstakingly confirm that those hibernating in the area were Lakurawa terrorists”.
He said that, in order to allow for further confirmation using Human Intelligence, the operation was rescheduled from an earlier date to 25 December 2024, and that the joint operation was planned such that, the Air Component’s precision strike capability was complimented by the Land Component’s boots on the ground.
According to Buba, pre-operation ISR missions confirmed significant terrorist activity within the general area. HUMINT reports equally corroborated the ISR findings, emphasizing the strategic importance of neutralizing the location.
‘Subsequently, aircrafts conducted a precision airstrike on the identified hideouts at about 0600hrs. The strike was executed with precision-guided munitions to minimize collateral damage”, he said.
The Land Component was deployed at blocking positions around the target location to prevent the escape of the terrorists. They also provided immediate post-strike assessment and follow-up actions.
Explaining further, Buba said that after the airstrike, ground forces, who moved into the area to assess the strike’s impact, confirmed that the hideout was successfully neutralized, with minimal damage observed in the surrounding village. The ground forces interacted with the locals in the area who confirmed thecpresence of the Lakurawa terrorists in the general area.
‘The airstrike achieved its primary objective of neutralizing the Lakurawa terrorists in thier concentration area. The destruction of key infrastructure used by the terrorist including arms cache and logistics dumps confirmed strike’s effectiveness. The air strike on the terrorist arms cache and logistics dump led to other secondary explosions causing hoarded munitions to explode in different directions that resulted in 10 deaths. Efforts are ongoing to determine whether or not they were terrorist collaborators”, the statement said.
It was gathered that locals of the area confirmed that Lakurawa terrorists stayed in the village and used the general areas as staging area for their operation. ISR and HUMINT reports prior to the operation consistently indicated the hideout was a high-concentration terrorist location.
“Overall, troops will continue to take painstaking measures to avoid civilian casualties. All civilian casualties are viewed as a needless tragedy. Nevertheless, we will not relent in targeting and dislodging terrorist across our nation”, Buba said.
