from OKORO CHINEDU in Lagos, Nigeria
Nigeria Bureau
LAGOS, (CAJ News) – THE death of civilians at the hands of Nigerian security forces is a disturbing trend in the fight against terror in the West African country.
The latest deaths evoke memories of 2017 when the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) bombed an internally displaced persons camp in Rann, northeast of Borno State when the force mistook the camp for an establishment by Boko Haram.
On December 25, this past Christmas, a military airstrike in the northwestern Sokoto state killed ten villagers.
Now, an airstrike in Zamfara state, also in the northwest, has resulted in unspecified accidental deaths of civilians.
The victims, who the military wrongly identified as the Boko Haram bandits, were members of a local vigilante group and farmers in the vicinity of Tungar Kara village, Zurmi Local Government Area.
“The military has called the killings of ordinary people accidental, but such deaths have become a recurring feature of these airstrikes,” said Anieti Ewang, Researcher of Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Africa.
The Nigerian Air Force, which carried out the Tungar Kara airstrike, claims that the strike dealt a “decisive blow” to bandits in the area but also expressed “grave concern” about “reports of the loss of civilian lives.”
The air force says it has launched “a comprehensive investigation.”
“However, similar promises by military authorities to ensure justice and accountability for airstrikes in the past have yielded little to no results,” Ewang argued.
HRW said Nigerian President Bola Tinubu should urgently work with the military leadership to address the escalating number of civilian lives claimed by airstrikes.
“Security forces should be held accountable for any and all abuses,” Ewang said.
“Next steps should include reforming military operational protocols and oversight, ensuring justice for victims, and measures to better protect innocent people during security operations,” Ewang insisted.
The Boko Haram terror group, which was founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002 in Maiduguri, the capital of the north-eastern state of Borno was initially established as a religious complex and school that attracted poor Muslim families from across Nigeria and neighbouring countries.
– CAJ News