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Summary:

• The Nigerian army acknowledges responsibility for a drone strike that unintentionally killed 85 people in Tudun Biri village, northern Kaduna state.

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The Nigerian army has made a U-turn and finally admitted to “mistakenly” killing 85 people during a drone strike on Sunday in the village of Tudun Biri in northern Kaduna state.

Initially, the Nigerian Air Force denied any involvement in the attack. However, today Tuesday the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt Gen Taoreed Lagbaja accompanied by principal staff officers from the Army headquarters expressed regrets for the “unfortunate mishap” describing it as a very disheartening occurrence.

During a visit to Tudun Biri, Lagbaja noted that in the recent past, the general area of Tudun Biri and adjoining villages were infested with armed bandits, who terrorized the communities until troops of the army started conducting operations to sanitize the area and make it habitable.

According to the statement, Lagbaja pointed out, that the unfortunate incident happened after troops who were carrying out aerial patrols observed a group of people and wrongly analyzed and misinterpreted their pattern of activities to be similar to that of the bandits, before the drone strike.

Lagbaja said he has ordered a thorough inquiry into the deadly incident to ascertain and identify areas of deficiency. The outcome of the investigations, he said will lead to lasting solutions to the identified lapses and deficiencies in both the human and Artificial Intelligence (AI) variables that will forestall future recurrence.

Nigeria’s military has previously used drones in their battle against Islamic extremists who have waged an insurgent campaign in the country’s northeast and northwest for several decades.

President Tinubu’s office issued a statement expressing his grief over the incident, which he called “very unfortunate, disturbing and painful.”