President Muhammadu Buhari has commiserated with families of the Internally Displaced Persons who lost their lives on Tuesday morning when a Nigeria Airforce plane mistakenly dropped a bomb on them inside the Rann IDP camp in Borno State.
The Rann camp, located in Kala-balge Local Government Area, is home to thousands of persons displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency.
In his reaction via his Twitter account, President Buhari said the Federal Government will support the Borno government in handling the situation.
He said, “I received with regret news that the Air Force, working to mop up Boko Haram insurgents, accidentally bombed a civilian community in Rann.
At the time of filing this report, a source confirmed that about 50 dead bodies have been seen while over a 100 are believed to be injured, including camp officials and Doctors without Borders, MSF.
The military spokesperson, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, confirmed the incident.
He explained that it was an error that the military deeply regretted.
He explained that soldiers got information of movement of Boko Haram members and deployed ground troops and air cover to tackle the terrorists.
It was the air support that mistakenly dropped the bomb, he said.
Rescue and evacuation efforts are ongoing with the International Red Cross deploying a helicopter to evacuate the wounded to hospitals.
Speaking on the accident, the Theatre Commander of Nigerian forces in Borno, Major General Lucky Irabor, at a press conference said, “This morning today, we received reports about gathering of Boko Haram terrorists somewhere in Kala Balge Local Government area of Borno State. We got a coordinate and I directed that the air should go to address the problem.
“Unfortunately the strike was conducted but it turned out that the locals somewhere in Rann were affected.
“We are yet to get the details of the casualties. But we have some civilians that have been killed, others are wounded and we also have two of our soldiers that were also wounded. Among some that are wounded are local staff of the Medicine Sans Frontiers as well as ICRC,” he said.
In his reaction, President Buhari said sympathised with the families of the dead, the injured, and the Government and people of Borno State.
“The Federal Government will fully support the Borno State Government in dealing with the situation and attending to the victims,” he said.
