Nigeria’s military has initiated court martial proceedings against two officers following a drone strike that resulted in the deaths of at least 85 civilians, announced the defense headquarters on Thursday. This action comes more than four months after President Bola Tinubu ordered an investigation into the incident.
The airstrike, which occurred on December 3, was among the deadliest to impact civilians, highlighting the Nigerian military’s increasing reliance on aerial attacks in combating Islamic militants in the northeast and armed kidnapping groups in the northwest.
Major General Edward Buba, spokesperson for the Defense Headquarters, stated that the investigation into the strike, conducted in a village in northern Kaduna state, concluded that it should never have occurred.
“The military has conducted a painstaking investigation into the incident and has initiated disciplinary action against those culpable,” said Buba, adding that they would face a court martial.
The military has acknowledged that it mistakenly identified a religious gathering of villagers in Kaduna as an assembly of armed criminal groups and has issued an apology for the error. However, this incident is part of a pattern of aerial assaults by the Nigerian military resulting in civilian casualties.
Just last month, an airstrike on a village in northwestern Zamfara state led to the deaths of at least 33 people, as reported by residents and a local traditional leader. The military operation was aimed at targeting armed kidnapping gangs and their hideouts.
Despite these casualties, the military has denied deliberately targeting or killing civilians in its operations.
