The Nigerian Air Force says it has commenced investigations into the allegations levelled against it that some innocent villagers were killed during its operation in Katsina.

The force maintained that its airstrike only neutralised several bandits who had launched an onslaught against personnel of the Police Mobile Force (PMF) and Katsina State Community Watch Corps personnel.

Daily Trust reports that at least seven innocent civilians were reportedly killed by a military airstrike that hit Yauni community, Zakka ward of Safana LGA of Katsina State.

Speaking on the development, the spokesman of NAF, Olusola Akinboyewa, explained that several bandits were killed during the “successful airstrike” that was carried out at Yauni Hill on Saturday.

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Akinboyewa, an Air Vice Marshal, told journalists in Abuja that the operation was launched in response to intelligence indicating a terrorist attack on a PMF location in the community, where bandits had already killed two PMF personnel and four vigilantes.

While describing the reports alleging the NAF of killing innocent civilians as “distressing”, he argued that the force is a professional organisation that follows its standard of procedures accordingly.

Zakka community seeks governor’s intervention

Residents of Zakka District in Safana Local Government Area of Katsina State have appealed to Governor Dikko Umaru Radda for urgent intervention following a military airstrike that mistakenly killed six members of a family on Saturday.

Speaking on behalf of the community, the Zakka Transformation Forum expressed deep concern over the worsening insecurity in the district, saying over 250 people have been killed and more than 600 abducted in the past 15 months.

The forum also raised concerns about the dire impact of insecurity on education, revealing that only six out of the district’s 56 public primary schools remain functional while the remaining 50 have been taken over by bandits.