“We lost 10 people in the incident while six others were injured. Many homes, livestock and grain silos were destroyed in the airstrikes.”
Sokoto’s state governor Ahmad Aliyu blamed the deaths on an “accidental misfire from the Nigerian Army,” without giving a toll.
Aliyu said he was in contact with the Nigerian military to seek a “thorough investigation” on the cause of the incident that caused “avoidable loss of life.”
The governor posted pictures from the scene showing at least seven bodies wrapped in clothes and plastic mats, as well as charred livestock and scorched mud houses.
An aide to President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday walked back his earlier description of the civilian deaths as fake news.
“I deeply regret any misunderstanding my initial report may have caused,” Dada Olusegun wrote on X. “These findings underscore the challenges of reporting on complex operations in areas where civilian and bandit presences overlap.”