The Nigerian military has begun an investigation into bombings by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) that killed people in the Mutumji community in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State while they were targeting militants.
Speaking to the media on December 22, Maj.-Gen. Musa Danmadami, Director of Defence Media Operations (DMO), said that the area had been attacked by bandits on motorcycles in their hundreds.
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Reacting to claims of over 60 civilians being killed in the strike, Danmadami said the military has set up a committee to investigate the matter.
According to him, the number of civilians killed has not been officially communicated to the military by the Zamfara State government.
He also said the number of soldiers killed during the operation was over-exaggerated in the media.
Danmadami said, “Investigation has been ordered into the operation to ascertain if actually there was collateral damage and equally the number of people that were involved
“So, for now, we cannot give you any specific number as to the level of collateral damage that happened during that incident so as not to jeopardise the investigation that is ongoing.
“The air bombardment was a precision bombardment and a lot of terrorists were equally neutralised during the operations.”
