Fighter Jets Miss Target, Kill Mother, 4 Children In Zamfara

A mother and her four children have been reported dead after they were hit by airstrikes from fighter jets targeted at bandits in Zamfara State.

The jet fighters conducting its aerial mission on Monday had reportedly missed its target at the Sububu Forest, known as major hideouts of bandits in Zamfara.

The forest, located between Shinkafi and Maradun Local Government Areas of the state, is where bandits launch attacks on travellers on Sokoto-Gusau Road and villages in Sokoto and Zamfara.

The aircraft, which belongs to the Nigeria Airforce, was said to have dropped the bombs on the Sububu village, rather than the bandits’ enclave in the forest, Daily Trust report.

Consequently, the airstrike took the lives of a woman and her four children while an elderly woman was wounded, the medium said.

A mosque allegedly built by a bandits’ kingpin, Halilu Sububu, was also destroyed during the attacks, but there were no casualties.

On their part, NAF spokesperson, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, confirmed the multiple airstrikes to PRNigeria but did not comment on the death of the victims.

The platform said about 120 bandits were killed by the airstrikes.

NAF disclosed that the military carried out “the precision airstrikes on the armed bandits after an intelligence and identification of the locations to avoid collateral damages”.