The Nigerian military says it has launched an investigation into the airstrikes which killed civilians at Mutumji community in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
Addressing newsmen on Thursday, December 22, Director of Defence Media Operations (DMO), Maj.-Gen. Musa Danmadami stated that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), airstrikes were targeted solely at bandits who invaded the area in their hundreds on motorcycles.
Reacting to claims of over 60 civilians being killed in the strike, Danmadami said the military has set up a committee to investigate the matter. According to him, the number of civilians killed has not been officially communicated to the military by the Zamfara State government.
He also said the number of soldiers killed during the operation was over-exaggerated in the media.
“Investigation has been ordered into the operation to ascertain if actually there was collateral damage and equally the number of people that were involved
“So, for now, we cannot give you any specific number as to the level of collateral damage that happened during that incident so as not to jeopardise the investigation that is ongoing.
“The air bombardment was a precision bombardment and a lot of terrorists were equally neutralised during the operations.”
