DHQ blames death of 10 civilians in Sokoto on ‘secondary explosions’

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) says 10 civilians killed in Sokoto state were victims of a secondary explosions, not direct military airstrikes.

On Thursday, the Sokoto state government said no fewer than 10 civilians were killed when a military air strike targeted suspected terrorists in Gidan Bisa village, Silame LGA of the state.

The government added that the incident occurred around 6am on Christmas Day, when two military fighter jets “mistakenly” dropped bombs on the village.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Friday, Edward Buba, director of defence media operations, said troops conducted a coordinated joint operation on December 25 between the air and land components of Operation Fassan Yamma, aiming to destroy Lakurawa terrorist groups in their hideouts in the area.

He said intelligence gathering confirmed terrorist presence in the area before the operation, following extended surveillance and reconnaissance.

“Now, I spoke about secondary explosions. Because one of the targets was a logistic base of the terrorists in the community. When I talk of a logistics base, I’m talking of armed caches and poles that were kept there,” Buba said.

“So, naturally, when the munition hits, there will be a secondary explosion arising from that which will generate other things flying in the air which was what led to the death of about 10 persons that was reported. The 10 persons reported were not hit directly by the air strikes.

“The people who were hit directly by the air strikes were the Lakurawa terrorist groups, and they were burned beyond recognition.”

Buba said the operation was planned as a joint effort to leverage the air component’s precision strike capability and the land component’s ability of having the boots on the ground.

He added that the operation started with pre-operational intelligence, surveillance, and recognition missions to confirm the terrorists’ activities within the general area.

“To make sure that those that we saw at that location were indeed terrorists – the Lakurawa terrorist group. And we did that by sending human intelligence to confirm and they got back to us and confirmed and it was thereafter that we carried out – a joint operation, a combined synchronized operation with the Air Force and ground forces,” he said.

“Air Force carried out precision strikes using precision munitions. After the strikes, the land component on the ground moved on the site, and what did they confirm? They confirmed that ‘Yes, the strikes hit the objective.’ That is that.”

‘DRONES USED BY TERRORISTS ARE TOYS’

Buba said the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in combat is not unprecedented, but noted that the drones in question are not military-grade.

“I don’t think that there is need for any unnecessary panic about the usage of drones. We are in war against terrorists and against insurgents across our country,” he said.

“The use of drones in the battlefield is not new. Now, when we are talking of drones now, please, we don’t want unnecessary panic because these are not professional drones, not military graded drones.

“These are toys that they went to buy and found a way to put one or two things on board and use them. How effective were they? They were not effective. Are we doing something about it? Yes, we are.

“Since we now know that this is where their thinking and their thought is going, we are going to use measures to forestall future attacks. I don’t call them really attacks. I call them harassment because those are harassments.”