Fresh tragedy in Katsina as Air Force jet accidentally bombs villagers

A fighter jet targeting terrorists has accidentally bombed villagers at Kunkuna in Safana Local Government Area of ​​Katsina State.

Safana is the LGA where an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Aminu Umar, was gunned down by bandits, on Tuesday.

• Bandits attack Buhari’s convoy in Katsina
• Bandits gun down Assistant Police Commissioner in Katsina

Umar and his men had responded to a distress call when he paid the supreme price.

A presidential convoy was also attacked in Katsina on Tuesday, but not in Safana LGA. Katsina is one of the states feeling the heat of banditry in the North-West region.

Details of the accident at Kunkuna village are unclear, but many lives were reportedly lost.

The jet was said to have hit the wrong targets in the operation launched against camps of bandits in the area.

Edward Gabkwet, spokesman of the Nigerian Air Force, was unreachable at the time of filing this report.

There have been several instances of accidental bombing involving the Air Force. One of such incidents happened in Rann, a border town in Kala/Balge Local Government Area of Borno State, on 17 January 2017.

A Nigerian Air Force jet mistakenly bombed an Internally Displaced Persons camp. They had believed it was a Boko Haram encampment.

The bombing left at least 115 people dead, including six Red Cross aid workers, and left more than 100 injured.

Four years later, a military jet involved in the counter-insurgency operation in the North East bombed a village in Yunusari Local Government Area of Yobe State, killing at least 10 villagers.

Yunusari is in the Northern part of Yobe State, sharing international border with Niger Republic.

A few more incidents were recorded after then.