MORE THAN 100 CIVILIANS KILLED AFTER NIGERIAN FIGHTER JET MISFIRED

Major General Leo Irabor

During an operation aimed at clearing the area of Boko Haram insurgents, a Nigerian Air Force fighter jet mistakenly bombed a refugee camp in Borno State on Tuesday the 17^th of January 2017.

A Borno state official has confirmed that over 100 refugees and humanitarian aid workers were killed as a result of the misfire.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), members of Medicines Sans Frontiers/ Doctors without Borders (MSF) were killed. More so, 20 ICRC aid workers died according to a worker of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Major General Leo Irabor the Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole stated while confirming the incident that:

“…we received a report about the gathering of Boko Haram terrorists around Kala Balge area of Maiduguri. I coordinated and I directed that the air component of the operation should go and address the problem.

“Unfortunately, the strike was conducted but it turned out that other civilians were somewhere around the area and they were affected.”

The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has offered his condolences to the families of the deceased via a twitter post which read:

“I sympathize with the families of the dead and with the injured, and the government and people of Borno State.”