The NAF has begun an Investigation into a Suspected Airstrike on Troops.

The NAF has begun an Investigation into a Suspected Airstrike on Troops.

NewsReport Nigeria April 27, 2021

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The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has responded to a claim that an airstrike was carried out on Nigerian troops. According to an online platform, a Nigerian Air Force fighter jet on a raid against Boko Haram extremists accidentally bombed men of the Nigerian Army on Sunday, killing over 20 officers.

NewsReport Nigeria reports that the video of a soldier explaining the attack has been making the rounds on social media. NAF said in a tweet yesterday from its official Twitter account that it was investigating the study and that the public will be kept up to date as soon as the inquiry was completed.

“This online new medium understands that the attention of the @NigAirForce has been drawn to news alleging ‘How NAF Killed over 20 Nigerian Army Personnel by Accident in Air Strike’ at Mainok, which is approximately 55 kilometers from Maiduguri,” it tweeted.

“NAF wishes to note that the circulating images and reports are being reviewed and that the general public will be kept up to date on the suspected incident. All inquiries should be forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Relations and Information (DPRI), Nigerian Air Force Headquarters.”

However, the army has declined to comment on the article. When contacted, Brig-Gen. Mohammed Yerima, Director of Army Public Relations, said he would release a statement about the incident. He has yet to make an official comment at the time of filing this article.

In a related development, the army announced the death of seven soldiers during a Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorist attack on Operation Lafiya Dole in Mainok, Borno State.

Yerima, who revealed this in Abuja, said that the terrorists may have come with the intention of creating a fictitious caliphate in the town.

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MEANWHILE, the Borno Emirates Concerned Citizens (BEC) Forum has requested that the Federal Government audit and study the country’s security architecture.

According to the forum, the point of blaming people has passed due to the huge killings and kidnappings. At a news conference in Maiduguri yesterday, Hassan Boguma, the Chairman, expressed his dismay at the repeated assaults on military formations and subsequent expulsion of constituted authorities in Damasak, Geidam, and Mainok by terrorists in Borno and Yobe State.

He observed that the people were powerless and there was no living being capable of inciting such wrath in insurgency-affected societies.

“The repeating of same tactics by military and other security agencies have strengthened the insurgents in terrorism,” he warned. He, therefore, called on security agencies to review their adopted measures of protecting life and property. He also called on the Presidency to immediately summon a national security meeting addressing the lingering insecurity.