The Defence Headquarters announced on Thursday that, over four months after President Bola Tinubu ordered an investigation, Nigeria's military has ordered two officers to face court martial proceedings over a drone strike that killed at least 85 civilians.
In the fight against Islamic militants in the northeast and armed kidnapping gangs in the northwest, the Nigerian military is increasingly depending on aerial assaults; the airstrike that struck civilians on December 3 was one of the deadliest.
Major General Edward Buba, a spokesman for Defence Headquarters, said the investigation into the strike in a village in northern Kaduna state revealed that it should never have happened.
"The military has conducted a painstaking investigation into the incident and has initiated disciplinary action against those culpable," said Buba, adding that they would face a court martial.
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The military has apologized for misinterpreting the religious gathering of Kaduna villagers as a gathering of armed criminal gangs.
However, it was just one of many military airstrikes in Nigeria that have claimed civilian lives.
According to locals and a traditional leader, an airstrike on a village in northwest Zamfara state last month killed at least 33 people as part of a military operation that targeted armed kidnapping gangs and their hideouts.
The armed forces denied that they killed or targeted civilians.
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