Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has attributed the deaths of “roughly ten persons” after strikes in Sokoto to what it called a “secondary explosion.”
Ten villagers were murdered and several others were injured in military strikes in the state’s Silame Local Government Area a few days ago, according to the Sokoto Government.
However, Major General Edward Buba, Director of Defence Media Operations, claimed that “secondary explosions” rather than the strikes were to blame for the fatalities and injuries.
“Now, I discussed secondary explosions. Because one of the targets was a terrorist organisation’s local logistic base. During a briefing at the DHQ in Abuja on Friday, he stated, “When I talk about a logistics base, I’m talking about armed caches and poles that were kept there.
“Therefore, it goes without saying that when the munition strikes, a secondary explosion would result, sending other objects flying into the air and, according to reports, killing roughly ten people. The ten people that were reported were not immediately impacted by the airstrikes.
“The Lakurawa terrorist groups were the ones directly affected by the airstrikes, and the fire destroyed them.”
Buba claims that the military verified that the strikes struck the terrorist organisation.
“To confirm that the individuals we observed there were, in fact, members of the Lakurawa terrorist organisation.” We accomplished this by sending human intelligence to confirm. They responded and confirmed, and we then conducted a coordinated action synchronised with ground forces and the Air Force,” he said.
“The Air Force used precision weapons to carry out precision strikes. What did they confirm when the land component on the ground moved on the site following the strikes? Yes, the strikes hit the objective, they affirmed. That’s it.”
Buba did not, however, confirm the number of those killed in the strikes, which has prompted more remarks from Nigerians.
Following the airstrikes, the deceased were buried per Islamic customs.
