After a recent military operation in the area, the federal government felt bad that people in Maru LGA of Zamfara had died.
During an attack by the Nigerian Air Force, scores of people were reportedly killed, including several villagers (NAF).
Reports say that the raid was meant to catch bandits who had broken into the town and were trying to get away.
The governor of Zamfara, Bello Matawalle, had already said that “many bandits” had been killed during the raid over the weekend.
However, he omitted to provide specifics on civilian fatalities.
The federal government laments the “collateral killings,” the minister of information, Lai Mohammed, stated following the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday.
“I think the federal government regrets this in respect to the tragic collateral killings in Zamfara state,” he said.
“Tackling insurgency is a really challenging endeavor.” Despite the military’s or the air force’s best efforts, it does occasionally happen that innocent civilians also suffer. We’ll later regret it.
“However, I believe that it is in the nature of insurgency warfare, and the military is very, very careful, especially the army and the air force, when trying to control insurrection, not to allow the killing of innocent life.”
“We regret it; the Air Force regrets it.” But regrettably, that does happen occasionally.
