A Nigerian airforce fighter jet conducting an aerial mission on Monday bombed and killed a mother and her four children in Zamfara State.
The fighter jet was targeting bandits terrorizing the area at the Sububu Forest, known as major hideouts of bandits in Zamfara.
Subudu forest is located between Shinkafi and Maradun Local Government Areas of the state.
It was the spot where bandits launched several attacks on travellers on Sokoto-Gusau Road and villages in Sokoto and Zamfara.
According to Daily Trust, the fighter jet 00 dropped the bombs on the Sububu village, rather than the bandits’ enclave in the forest, Daily Trust report.
The airstrike took the lives of a woman and her four children while an elderly woman was wounded, the medium said.
A mosque allegedly built by a bandits’ kingpin, Halilu Sububu, was also destroyed during the attacks, but there were no casualties.
On their part, NAF spokesperson, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, confirmed the multiple airstrikes but did not comment on the death of the victims.
PRNigeria, however, said that about 120 bandits were killed by the airstrikes.
NAF disclosed that the military carried out “the precision airstrikes on the armed bandits after an intelligence and identification of the locations to avoid collateral damages”.
