BORNO: NAF jet ‘accidentally’ bombs military truck, kills soldiers during Boko Haram attack

A FIGHTER jet belonging to the Nigerian Air Force has reportedly fired a bomb on the ground troops, killing unspecified number of soldiers in Mainok.

The air force “accidentally” hit the wrong coordinates while targeting the strongholds of Boko Haram insurgents who had attacked the troops yesterday, according to the TheCable.

Airforce spokesman, Edward Gabkwet, said the incident is being investigated.

This is coming hours after the insurgents attacked a military base in Mainok and overpowered the troops; the development made the troops demand reinforcement.

The truck which was sent for reinforcement was targeted and shelled by the air strike following a flawed intelligence, sources said.

 “They (Boko Haram) came with heavy machines, about four MRAPS (mine-resistant ambush protected) vehicles and they overpowered the ground troops.

“Troops sent signals for air support and when they came, it missed the main coordinates; where the air force shelled their bomb was on the location of troops instead of that of Boko Haram.

“The aircraft had to turn back. They realised that they mistargeted (and) most of the soldiers started running inside the bush,” the Cable quoted one of its sources to have said.

“All I can say is that the matter is being investigated. It is not a matter that we can just quickly give answers to,” the air force spokesman said during a phone interview.

In 2020, the Nigerian airforce during a reconnaissance “accidentally” bombed a village in Damboa LGA of Borno, killing 17 people including women and children.

A similar incident occurred in January 2017 when the air force killed more than 100 internally displaced persons (IDPs) during an accidental bombing.