Days after military airstrikes killed at least 10 people in Gidan Sama and Rumtuwa communities in the Silame Local Government Area of Sokoto State on Christmas Day, some residents of the agrarian community have rejected claims by the military that those hit were terrorists.
According to The PUNCH, reports indicated that the fighter jet was targeting Lakurawa terrorists in the areas, but in the process dropped explosives that killed residents, and livestock, and burnt several food silos and houses.
Although the Nigerian Air Force promised to launch a thorough investigation into the incident, the NAF spokesperson, Air Vice Marshal Olusola Akinboyewa, defended the airstrikes, stating that they were carried out based on credible intelligence from multiple sources and after confirmatory aerial surveillance.
His claim was corroborated by the Coordinator of the Joint Media Coordination Centre of the Operation, Lieutenant-Colonel Abubakar Abdullahi, who insisted that the military operation was based on thorough reconnaissance missions.
When our correspondent visited the LG headquarters on Friday, the mood was tense, and residents wore long faces.
Many people from different communities gathered at the residence of the Local Government Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Muhammad, to commiserate with him about the incident.
Muhammad insisted that those killed were farmers with no links to terrorists or the alleged Lakurawa sect, as claimed by the military.
