December 08, (THEWILL) – The Defence Headquarters (DHQ), has assured Nigerians that the military will learn from the erroneous bombing of civilians in Kaduna and improve its operational processes.
Director of the Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, gave the assurance to newsmen on Thursday, in Abuja, in response to the outrage over the tragic incident in Kaduna.
THEWILL had reported that scores of villagers celebrating Maulud were killed and several others injured in an aerial bombardment in Tudun Biri community, Ligarma village, Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna on Sunday night.
Buba, who expressed regrets over the incident, assured that the Nigerian military, would continue to conduct its operations in consistent with international laws and rules of engagement.
While dismissing the insinuation that lack of inter-service synergy could have led to the mishap, he said that military operations were being conducted nationwide jointly with the Army, Navy and Air Force.
”On the incident that happened, I can assure you that the military learns from its experiences and will continue to make improvements as we go along.
“It is an incident that has happened and like I mentioned in my brief, we are determined to deal with it squarely.
“There will be need for protocols, there will be need for processes to be improved upon and this I assure you, we will put in place to ensure that in future we have near to zero occurrences”, he said.
On the casualties figure, Buba, said that the records from the community put the death toll at 81, while about 70 were receiving treatment at the hospital.
He described as faulty, erroneous and unpatriotic, insinuation by some groups that the attack was targeted at a particular religion, saying it was a dangerous speculation at time the nation was at war.
The defence spokesman called on all Nigerians to support the military with useful information to carry out its operations without hitch.
