Only two days after Bello Matawalle, Nigeria’s Minister of State Defence, announced that there is no single member of the Lakurawa terror group left in the country, the military killed civilians in an airstrike claiming it was targeting members of the same group.
The airstrike which hit residents of Gidan Sama and Rumtuwa villages in Silame Local Government Area in Sokoto on Wednesday, killed about 10 civilians.
Before this incident, Matawalle told journalists on Monday that the presence of the terror group had been completely eliminated in Nigeria.
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He claimed that the Nigerian military had carried out an operation two weeks earlier where members of the terror group alongside their armoury, equipment and motorcycles were destroyed.
“About the Lakurawa, people have been saying that the Lakurawa are in Zamfara State. This is not true. The Lakurawa are not in Zamfara State,” Mattawale said.
“This is a group that is coming from Burkina Faso and Mali. We have a belt coming from Niger and some parts of Sokoto State.
“If you recall, last two weeks, we had a major operation in their camp, during which we destroyed a lot of their equipment, their armoury, and some of them were killed.
“I don’t believe that any Lakurawa will think of coming back to Nigeria because we have given them a very big blow.”
Matawalle emphasised that nothing had been heard about the terror group in Nigeria since the military destroyed their camps and bases in Sokoto and Kebbi states.
He claimed the military had left no stone unturned in the operation to flush them out of the country.
“So, regarding the Lakurawa, if you noticed two weeks ago, I believe you haven’t seen or heard anything about their operations because we dealt with them decisively and we left no stone unturned.
“The military has found out their routes, their armoury, and where they stay, and we have ordered the military to destroy all their camps, which I believe you have seen for yourself.
“I have all the reports showing that all their major camps were destroyed. We recovered a lot of equipment, including their motorcycles and other belongings. They ran away because these are people who do not have a permanent base. they always go with their equipment wherever they are.
“But, with God’s help, our security forces found out where they were, and given the level of destruction we gave to them, I don’t believe any member of the Lakurawa will think of coming back to Nigeria.”
However, only two days after this assurance and claim, military airstrikes targeting Lakurawa members in Sokoto killed and injured civilians.
The civilians were killed in an operation the military dubbed “Operation Hadarin Daji (OPHD)”.
Despite the reported deaths and casualties, the military has denied targeting civilians in its operation but was only aiming for members of the Lakurawa group.
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Abubakar Abdullahi, the joint media coordinator for the operation, said the victims struck in the villages were members of the terror group.
“Importantly, the targets struck in the vicinity of Gidan Sama and Rumtuwa have been positively identified as associated with the Lakurawa group, reinforcing the justification for the military action taken,” Abdullahi said.
This defeated Matawalle’s initial claim that no single member of the terror group was left in the country.
The conflicting positions of the defence minister and the military indicate either party has fed Nigerians with inaccurate information about its war on the Lakurawa terror group or the civilian casualties involved.
On Thursday, FIJ reported how about 70 innocent civilians had been killed by military airstrikes in 2024.
The post Matawalle Declared Lakurawa Eliminated. 2 Days Later, Military Airstrike Targeting Same Group Killed Civilians appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.