It was a sad day in Nigeria as the fight against the Islamist group, Boko Haram, backfired against the Nigerian Government. Nigerian Air Force fighter jet mistakenly bombed refugee camp in Borno state, killing more than 50 displaced refugees and wounding many others among whom are some aid workers. The Red Cross has said that six of its employees were killed in the attack.
Buhari: Technically, we have won the war.
The so-called doctors without borders have been doing tremendous job in treating and helping the victims of the dreaded group.
Nigeria news medias have reported that this air-strike was supposed to be the last straw that would have finally wiped out and erase the era of Boko Haram in Nigeria.
In his 2017 new year message to Nigerians, he commended himself for being able to rescue 21 out of the almost 300 kidnapped Chibok girls.
In a statement, Dr. Jean-Clement Cabrol, MSF director of operations. said: “This large-scale attack on vulnerable people who have already fled from extreme violence is shocking and unacceptable,” He continued, “The safety of civilians must be respected. We are urgently calling on all parties to ensure the facilitation of medical evacuations by air or road for survivors who are in need of emergency care.”
For now, the cause of the grievous mistake is not yet known, but it is being speculated that it was probably “pilot error” as there was no plane crash. On the other hand, the Nigerian air force acted on the hint that BH boys were grouping up along the border of Cameroon, hence this attack was launched. It is also possible that they got wrong information which led to the pilot hitting the wrong target.
DIGESTING ALL NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS ON TWITTER
The fight between the military and the BH group continues despite the fact that the Nigerian President, Buhari, once claimed to have technically defeated Boko Haram in the past.
This is actually not the first time civilians have been bombed in the on-going fight in Nigeria but Nigerian Government has never admitted that the civilians were bombed by their aircraft. This is the first time that Nigerian Government has admitted to making such mistakes.
In a statement, The Red Cross spokesman, Aleksandar Matijevic, pledged that this mistake would not deter the RC from continuing to carry out their humanitarian aid as planned. In his own words:
“Our thoughts are now with the families of our colleagues who have lost their loved ones,” Mr Matijevic said, adding that the Red Cross would continue bringing humanitarian aid to those affected by the conflict.”