One collateral killing too many
Again, dozens of indefensible citizens have suffered collateral damage from mistaken airstrikes, this time in Zamfara State. More than 60 people were recently killed in the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) airstrikes targeted at bandits in Mutunji community in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State. This huge loss was recorded when bandits, that were the […]
Again, dozens of indefensible citizens have suffered collateral damage from mistaken airstrikes, this time in Zamfara State. More than 60 people were recently killed in the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) airstrikes targeted at bandits in Mutunji community in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State. This huge loss was recorded when bandits, that were the targets of the NAF, rushed into Mutunji community and used the inhabitants as shields from the airstrikes. Residents told reporters that the criminals rode on more than 300 motorbikes into Dandalla.
After they were harassed out of their camps by the military fighter jets from Dansadau Emirate in Zamfara State, the bandits, in large numbers reportedly headed for and entered into the Mutunji community where they shielded themselves with residents of Dandalla. They told the residents that no one would be allowed to leave the community and that they would all die together since the military has decided to carry out air raids on them.
While responding to questions at a media briefing on recent military operations, the Director, Defence Media Operations (DMO), Major General Musa Danmadami, said the military had set up a board to investigate the matter with a view to ascertaining whether or not there was collateral damage. The board is also to confirm the number of victims involved. “The air bombardment was a precision bombardment and a lot of terrorists were equally neutralised during the operations”, Danmadami said.
Lamenting the deaths of some soldiers from the ground forces during the operations, Danmadami said the number of soldiers killed was over-exaggerated in the media; adding that the number of civilians killed had also not been officially communicated to the military by the Zamfara State government. But regardless of how small anyone thinks the number of casualties from among ground forces might be, the life of every Nigerian, whether as a soldier or as a law-abiding citizen, is sacred. The inexcusable loss of over 60 innocent lives in what ought to be a precision bombardment in Zamfara is certainly a huge national disaster.
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The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, had announced in October 2022 that a committee of officers has been instuted to compile all allegations of accidental air strikes on civilians as well as review the circumstances leading to such strikes.
He said the investigation was further aimed at “promoting accountability, allow NAF to lear valuable lessons in order to mitigate similar cases in the future as well as take extra measures to minimise civilians harm and casualities in conflict areas’’.
Statistics from miscalculated airstrikes in the past show that 11 of such miscarried airstrikes have occurred between 2014 and 2022; with a total of 234 casualties. The 11 airstrikes occurred in different locations across five states including Borno, Katsina, Niger, Yobe and Zamfara. While five of the airstrikes with collateral damages happened in 5 years, between 2014 and 2019; 6 miscalculated airstrikes by the NAF occurred in two years, between 2021 and 2022. With the airstrikes that occurred at different times in Kayamla village, Rann IDP camp, Daglun, Gajigana village, Mainok and Kwatar Daban Masara, Borno state leads with the highest figure of 6 of such airstrikes occurring in one state. While Zamfara experienced two of such bombings, Katsina, Niger and Yobe each suffered one attack.
A total casualty figure of 234 fatalities suffered in precision bombardments from 11 separate airstrikes is wanton and unpardonable. The highest collateral damage in a single attack occurred in the December 17, 2022 offensive that claimed over 60 lives in Zamfara state. The least casualty figure of two victims was witnessed during the attack of July 6, 2022 in Kunkunni village in Katsina State.
While the difficulty of the terrain in Zamfara state may be appreciated, the operation by troops was recntly complicated by bandits who now live among civilian population and use same as shield. A change in strategy should, however, have long been decided by the NAF after the third of the eleven airstrikes that hit struck wrong targets.
It’s totally unacceptable that in spite of the colossal number of victims involved in most of the airstrikes with collateral damages, no one has ever been held accountable. Nigerians doubt if there has ever been a report on the collateral killings in all the previous bombardments. If there were any reports, they were certainly not made public. Not a single family of the victims involved in the bombardments claim to have received any compensations. The military once declared that victims of the airstrike that mistakenly killed nine farmers in Buhari village in Yobe State on September 16, 2021 were not entitled to any compensations because the bombarded site was a Boko Haram enclave. This argument is actually untenable.
Collateral killings from airstrikes are most often associated with intelligence failure. But even with adequate intelligence, poor training of personnel and the nature or quality of the technology deployed in airstrikes are two critical factors that make or mar operations by troops. Only an independent investigative panel would reveal whether the NAF has the requisite advanced technology for precision air bombardments and whether its flying personnel, too, have the necessary training for manning high-tech equipment including Super Tucano fighter aircrafts.
Airstrikes, which after operations leave behind casualties, would simply be turning the war against bandits and other criminal elements in to a war against innocent Nigerians. While Daily Trust encourages the NAF to re-think its operational strategies in its fight against terrorists, the collateral damages suffered in the air bombardments that killed 60 people in Zamfara State should be the last to be heard of in the NAF onslaught against bandits and terrorist groups in Nigeria. The recent miscalculated attack in Zamfara is, indeed, one collateral killing too many.