Nigerian Air Force ‘mistakenly’ kill over 20 soldiers in Borno — Report

A Nigerian Air Force fighter jet on a mission against Boko Haram insurgents in Mainok, headquarters of the Kaga Local Government Area of Borno state, mistakenly bombed men of the Nigerian Army on Sunday, killing over 20 officers, according to military sources.

The Air Force jet were said to have bombed an armoured tank conveying the soldiers, killing many in the process.

The soldiers who were reinforced from Ngandu village were said to be on their way to Mainok, a town that has been under attack by terrorists from the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), a breakaway faction of Boko Haram formerly known as Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād.

The terrorists had on Sunday, attacked a Nigerian Army location at 156 Battalion in the community, killing over 30 soldiers.

The terrorists who came in no fewer than 15 gun trucks also burnt down the military base.

A source told SaharaReporters that a reinforcement team of the Nigerian Army sent to the community was mistakenly bombed by an Air Force fighter jet.

“The Boko Haram terrorists disguised in military uniform and gained access to the camp. They came in different groups and could not be counted. The Nigerian Army were pinned down, they requested for reinforcement, the reinforcement got on their way only to get smoked by the Nigerian Airforce,” the source told the online medium.

“The (reinforcement team) was coming from Ngandu and were killed by an airstrike. The Air Force mistook them for Boko Haram as both were cladded in similar military uniform and operational vehicles.”

Villagers in the past have reported some civilian casualties in almost daily bombardments in North Eastern Nigeria.

Recently, a military jet that came to repel an attack by Boko Haram dropped a bomb that landed in a compound where civilians were holding a naming ceremony.