Many Dead as Nigerian Air Force Mistakenly Bombs Another Borno Town

Malik Yahya/

Afighter jet operated by the Nigerian Air Force has mistakenly dropped a bomb on a Nigerian fishing community in the Lake Chad region, the AFP reported today.

At least 20 people, said to be fishermen, were killed and many others injured in the Sunday airstrike in Kwatar Daban Masara.

Locals said the community was about 50 kilometres from Borno capital and Boko Haram heartland Maiduguri.

The attack came barely two weeks after the Nigerian military bombed a Buhari community in Yobe, also in Nigeria’s war-ravaged North-East, killing at least 12 people and wounding many.

The Nigerian Air Force initially denied the report that it dropped a bomb on Buhari village as false, but later owned up and promised an investigation after Governor Mai Mala Buni publicly acknowledged the incident and commiserated with victims.

A Nigerian air force spokesman did not immediately respond to a message seeking confirmation or comment from the French news agency.

The Nigerian military has been conducting air raids across the region since 2009 when Boko Haram insurgents launched attacks against the state. In 2017, an air force pilot dropped a bomb on a village in Rann, Borno, killing dozens of civilians.