Official figures has emerged that about 236 people were actually
killed in the last week’s bombing of the IDP’s camp in Rann, Borno
State by Nigeria Airforce.
The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media
Garba Shehu who disclosed this on Channel’s Television Programme
Sunrise daily on Monday said a total of two hundred and thirty six
people were confirmed dead in the bombing.
He said there were security reports that some Boko Haram fighters
were sighted in the camp which necessitated the bombing. The
confirmation has cancelled the fears that the bombing was accidental.
Garba Shehu has however ruled out any compensation for the victims of
the attack saying ‘no where in the world where compensation are paid
to civilians who died or were victims of collateral damage during
wars.’
He said investigations are still on going.
It will be recalled that there were reports that a foreign country
provided false intelligence to Nigeria on the location of Boko Haram
terrorists leading to the accidental bombing of an IDP camp.
The tragic incident happened on Tuesday, January 17 at the Rann IDP
camp is located in Kala-balge local government area and it caters for
thousands of persons displaced About 72 persons were reported dead
including aid workers from the Red Cross while more than a hundred
were confirmed injured. by Boko Haram.
The Nation reports that a source close to the intelligence community
who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the accidental bombing
was due to information provided by a foreign country that has been
helping in the fight against terrorism.
The source also said there was no synergy of information between the
military, emergency management authority and the Borno state
government.
The source said: “What happened was that a foreign nation, which had
been assisting in the counter-insurgency, provided an intelligence
alert on the regrouping of some insurgents in Rann.
“The foreign country based its alert on what its surveillance radar
picked. The alert indicated that the insurgents must be smoked out as
early as possible. It was on this basis that the Air Force deployed
its jet.
“The error occurred because the IDPs camp was not among the list of
camps made available to the Air Force. There is a strong suspicion
that the camp was recently set up by emergency bodies and Borno State
without updating the list given to the military.”
“Yet, we cannot blame the foreign country because it had always given
credible intelligence to the military, especially on Operation Lafiya
Dole.”
