The Defence Headquarters said the Christmas Day coordinated strikes by the Nigerian military against the Lakurawa terrorists in Sokoto State were not responsible for the civilian casualties.
The director of defence, media operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba stated this at a press conference in Abuja, yesterday.
He said the civilian deaths was caused by a secondary explosion, contrary to the reports that military airstrikes hit wrong locations and killed no fewer than 10 civilians in Gidan Bisa and Gidan Runtuwa villages in Silame Local Government Area of the state.
He explained that the deaths resulted from the explosion triggered by the destruction of Lakurawa terrorists’ logistics base which, according to him, housed dangerous materials, including hand cartridges and explosives, which detonated when it was struck by the Air Force’s precision munitions.
Buba further said the airstrike was a precision-guided operation targeting the terrorists’ hideout in the area.
“The Armed Forces of Nigeria has a duty to defend citizens from terrorists either through peaceful means, or the force of arms. It is in discharge of this responsibility that on 25 Dec 2024, a coordinated joint operation was conducted between the Air Component and the Land Component of Operation Fansan Yamma to destroy Lakurawa Terrorists Group (LTG) hideouts at Gidan Bisa and Gidan Runtuwa in Jirikon Forest in Silame LGA of Sokoto State. Prior to the operation, there was heightened terrorist activities in the area.
“The military conducted sustained intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions for over extended periods to painstakingly confirm that those hibernating in the area were Lakurawa terrorist. Significantly, the operation was rescheduled from an earlier date to 25 December in order to allow for further confirmation using human intelligence (HUMIT.
“The joint operation was planned such that, the Air Component’s precision strike capability was complimented by the Land Component’s boots on the ground. Pre-operation ISR missions confirmed significant terrorist activity within the general area. HUMINT reports equally corroborated the ISR findings, emphasising the strategic importance of neutralising the location.
“Subsequently, aircrafts conducted a precision airstrike on the identified hideouts at about 0600hrs.
“The strike was executed with precision-guided munitions to minimise collateral damage. The land component deployed at blocking positions around the target location to prevent the escape of Lakurawas terrorist.
“Following the airstrike, ground forces moved into the area to assess the strike’s impact. The ground forces confirmed that the hideout was successfully neutralised, with minimal damage observed in the surrounding village. The ground forces interacted with the locals in area who confirmed presence of the Lakurawas terrorist in the general area.
“The airstrike achieved its primary objective of neutralising the Lakurawa terrorist in their concentration area. The destruction of key infrastructure used by the terrorist including arms cache and logistics dumps confirmed strike’s effectiveness.
“ISR and HUMINT reports prior to the operation consistently indicated the hideout was a high-concentration terrorist location. Overall, troops will continue to take painstaking measures to avoid civilian casualties. All civilian casualties are viewed as a needless tragedy. Nevertheless, we will not relent in targeting and dislodging terrorist across our nation.”
Buba said every innocent soul lost in the course of their operation was a tragedy and sympathised with their loved ones and their families whenever such occurs.
“But we must be reminded that our troops are very professional in their actions and are indeed turning the tide against the insurgents and terrorists.
‘We encourage citizens and say that together we make an extraordinary difference even as ordinary people. We call on your support always and we want to thank the people in that community that tremendously helped our operation to be this successful.
“The Armed Forces have to protect our citizens and it is for these reasons that we carry out our operations to make sure that citizens are protected and our territory and our territorial integrity is also secured,” he added.
