More than 100 people are reported dead after a Nigerian Air Force fighter jet mistakenly bombed a refugee camp on Tuesday, a Borno state official said. The jet was on a mission against the Boko Haram extremists in the region.
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The accidental bombing was confirmed by Major General Lucky Irabor, who said that "some" civilians were killed in the northeastern town of Rann, near the border with Cameroon. Reports state that the dead included refugees and aid workers. He also added that two soldiers were also wounded in the accident along with some Nigerians working for Doctors Without Borders. The Maj. Gen. did not give an exact figure of the dead.
Reuters reports state that it is the first time Nigerian military has admitted to making such a mistake in a region where there have been several reports of civilian casualties by the villagers. The military conducts almost a daily-bombing, targeting the Islamist extremists of the Boko Haram group.
More than 100 people were dead and many more were wounded, which mainly included refugees, the official who assisted in coordinating the evacuation of the wounded from the remote region through helicopters told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, as he was not allowed to speak to the press.
International humanitarian non-governmental organisation Doctors Without Borders said that its medical team based in Rann counted around 52 bodies and was treating at least 120 wounded people from the site of the accident.
"This large-scale attack on vulnerable people who have already fled from extreme violence is shocking and unacceptable. The safety of civilians must be respected," Dr. Jean-Clément Cabrol, the aid group's director of operations, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
The International Committee for the Red Cross said that six of their workers with the Nigerian Red Cross were also among the dead and 13 of their workers have been gravely wounded in the attack.
"They were part of a team that had brought in desperately needed food for over 25,000 displaced persons," Red Cross spokesperson Jason Straziuso said in a statement from Nairobi, Kenya.
General Irabor said that he had ordered the mission based on information that Islamist militants from Boko Haram were gathering in the region. The target was set along with geographic coordinates. However, he also added that an investigation would be made in the bombing as it is too early to say that it was a tactical error.
