10 Villagers, Livestock Killed by Military Jets in Sokoto

•Governor Aliyu donates N20m, 100 bags of food to victims’ families

Onuminya Innocent

No fewer than ten people and many livestock were killed in a military airstrike while pursuing bandits in Gidan Bisa village of Silame Local Government Area of Sokoto State in the early hours of yesterday.

According to the Chairman of the LGA, Abubakar Gitta Rana, the incident occurred at about 6am when two military fighter jets erroneously dropped bombs in the village, leaving 10 villagers and many livestock dead.

Gov. Ahmed Aliyu, in company of the APC leader in the state, Sen. Aliyu Magarakarda Wamakko and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi, defied the difficult terrain of the village and joined other villagers for the funeral prayers for the deceased.

While condoling the community, Governor Aliyu described the incident as unfortunate and an act destined to happen by the Almighty Allah.

“The military jets were on their mission to eliminate armed criminal groups terrorizing the state, and mistakenly bombed innocent people of this community.

“We consider this as a mistake because the same military had on several occasions successfully raided so many criminal hideouts in the state,” he added.

The governor further said a thorough investigation would be conducted to find out what led to the avoidable mistake, so as to guard against its recurrence.

Governor Aliyu also prayed to Almighty Allah to forgive the deceased, and give their families the strength to bear the loss.

Earlier, the Secretary to the State Government, Muhammad Bello Sifawa, announced a donation of N20million and 100 bags of assorted food stuffs to the families of the deceased.

He added that the state government will also settle the medical bills of those hospitalized as a result of injuries they sustained from the bombardment.