Nigerian air force kills 70 in strike

MSF said the strike occurred in Rann in Borno state, the epicentre of the jihadist group’s sevenyear-long bid to create an Islamic caliphate. Nigerian General Lucky Irabor, a regional military commander, located the incident at Kala Balge, a district that includes Rann. 

Irabor, who said it was too early to determine the cause of the incident, told journalists an unknown number of civilians had  been killed, adding that humanitarian workers from MSF and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were among the injured. “At least 70 people were killed and 120 wounded,” said Tim Shenk, a spokesman for the MSF medical charity. “The organiza tion’s medical and surgical teams in the region are preparing to treat evacuated patients,” he added. An ICRC spokeswoman said six Nigeria Red Cross members were killed and 13 wounded. 

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said the deaths “underline the importance of protecting civilians in complex humanitarian emergencies.” The Boko Haram insurgency has killed more than 15,000 people since 2010 and forced some two million to flee their homes, many of whom have moved to camps for internally displaced people. 

“The president pledges federal help for the state government in attending to this regrettable operational mistake,” said Femi Adesina, a spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari, in an emailed statement.