Two Nigerian soldiers will face a court martial over a deadly drone strike that killed at least 85 civilians in the city of Kaduna, the Defence Headquarters said in a statement on Thursday. It was one of the country’s worst military errors.
Residents of a community in northwest Kaduna were celebrating a Muslim festival on December 3 last year when a drone hit them, killing scores instantly.
The Nigerian military admitted the error, saying it had mistaken the gathering as armed criminal gangs, and issued an apology.
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Defence spokesperson Major General Edward Buba said the strike shouldn’t have happened and the hopes there will never be a re-occurrence.
“It is hoped that there would be no repeat of strikes on non-combatants in ongoing operations,” it said. “The military will take extra precautions in the future to ensure that non-combatants are safe.”
“The military has conducted a painstaking investigation into the incident and has initiated disciplinary action against those culpable,” he said.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had ordered a thorough investigation in the aftermath of the incident last December.