Nigerian President Calls For Thorough Investigation After Military Drone Targeting Rebels Kills 85 People

Nigerian military illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Petty Officer 2nd Class Cameron Edy)

JAKARTA - Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday called for a thorough investigation into a military drone strike that state emergency agencies in Kaduna State said killed at least 85 people over the weekend.

The state governor, who is also a witness, said dozens of civilians were killed following a military drone strike targeting rebels and bandits on Sunday evening.

Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency said on Tuesday, at least 85 people were killed in the attack, providing the first official confirmation of the number of casualties in the weekend incident.

"The Northwest Zone Office has received details from the local government, so far 85 bodies have been buried while searches are still ongoing," the agency said.

Meanwhile, President Tinubu, who was attending the Cop28 Climate Change Summit in Dubai, said the "bombing accident" in a village in Tundun Biri was "very unfortunate, troubling, and painful," his spokesman Ajuri Ngelale said in a statement.

"The president called for a thorough and total investigation into the incident, calling for calm while the authorities investigated the crash carefully," Ngelale said.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army has yet to comment on the incident, while the Air Force has denied involvement in the mission that led to Sunday's attack.

Nigerian military, backed by the United States, Britain, and other non-Western allies in a long war against rebels in the northeast, have also launched deadly airstrikes over the years in other regions of the country.

Kaduna itself is 163 km (101 miles) from the capital Abuja. Outside the war zone in the northeast, the army and air forces have been asked to address the growing threat in the northwest and central regions of Nigeria, including in the state of Kaduna, posed by armed criminal groups that opened fire on villages with bullets and carried out mass kidnappings.