A fighter jet has mistakenly bombed two communities in the Silame Local Government Area of Sokoto State.
The incident, which happened on Wednesday, left at least 10 innocent villagers dead and several others injured.
The Sokoto State Government confirmed the incident in a statement on Wednesday.
The Press Secretary to the Sokoto State Governor, Abubakar Bawa, said visited the two communities that were bombed by the military fighter jets.
The governor sympathised with the community and described the incident as unfortunate.
“The military jets were on their mission to eliminate criminals armed groups terrorizing the state, and mistakenly bombed innocent people of this community,” he said.
“We consider this as a mistake because the same military had on several occasions successfully raided so many criminal hideouts in the state.”
Aliyu stated that a thorough investigation would be conducted to find out what led to the avoidable mistake, so as to guard against its recurrence.
People gather for the funeral of the victims of the military bombing in Sokoto State on December 25, 2024.
He also prayed to Almighty Allah to forgive the deceased and give their families the strength to bear the loss.
Also, the Chairman of Silame Local Government Area, Abubakar Mohammed Daftarana, identified the affected villages as Gidan Sama and Rumtuwa.
He said the fighter jets were reportedly targeting Lakurawa terrorists, adding that the team was working to assess the level of damage and casualties emanating from the airstrike.
According to Daftarana, it is too early to confirm the number of people either killed or injured because assessment is still ongoing.
Efforts to speak with the police authority to confirm the incident were unsuccessful, and the mobile number of the Sokoto State Police Command’s spokesman was not connected.
Shortly after, the military authorities issued a statement on the incident.
The spokesman for Operation Fansan Yamma, Lieutenant Colonel Abubakar Abdullahi, however, did not confirm if military jets struck the communities.
He admitted that there is a significant risk that Lakurawa and other terrorist groups “may attempt to undermine military successes through media disinformation, necessitating caution concerning unverified claims, especially in the ongoing fight against terrorism and banditry.”
“The Joint Task Force North West Operation Fansan Yamma has addressed recent reports concerning a military fighter jet allegedly bombing civilian structures in the Silame Local Government Area of Sokoto State,” he said.
“These reports have raised concerns; however, it is crucial to clarify that all military operations are conducted based on thorough intelligence and reconnaissance missions. This rigorous process is particularly important when targeting groups like the Lakurawa terrorist organisation, as it aims to ensure precision and protect civilian lives.
“Given the serious nature of these operations, the public is urged to rely on confirmed information to prevent misinformation and unnecessary panic.
“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.”
Elon Musk, U.S tech billionaire on Thursday revealed that the U.S. government accidentally cut Ebola virus prevention efforts.
Musk told a U.S. Cabinet meeting that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had made mistakes as it cut jobs and programmes in recent weeks.
“We won’t be perfect, but when we make mistake, we’ll fix it very quickly.”
Musk, who is not a Cabinet member or an elected official, said one such mistake was “accidentally” cancelling Ebola prevention while cutting U.S. development aid agency USAID.
“I think we all want Ebola prevention. So we restored the Ebola prevention immediately, and there was no interruption,” Musk said.
“But we do need to move quickly if we are to achieve a trillion dollar deficit reduction in financial year 2026.
“It requires saving 4 billion dollars per day, every day, from now through the end of September,” he added. “But we can do it, and we will do it.”
Ebola is a contagious and life-threatening infectious disease. The virus is transmitted through physical contact and contact with bodily fluids.
USAID is one of the largest aid agencies in the world, employing around 10,000 people, two-thirds of whom work outside the United States.
It is responsible for doling out much of the U.S. government’s humanitarian assistance to developing countries and countries in crisis.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has effectively dismantled the agency, placing almost all staff on leave.
Trump froze the agency’s funds in January pending an internal review, impacting a vast array of initiatives around the globe. (dpa/NAN)
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Thursday said that North Korea is behind the theft of about 1.5 billion dollars in digital assets from a cryptocurrency exchange, .
The company said hackers stole about 1.5 billion dollars in digital assets from Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit on Feb.19, marking the biggest cryptocurrency heist ever recorded.
The FBI warned that the assets will be laundered and eventually converted into currency.
“FBI refers to this specific North Korean malicious cyber activity as ‘TraderTraitor,’ the FBI said in a public announcement.
“Trader Traitor actors are proceeding rapidly and have converted some of the stolen assets to Bitcoin and other virtual assets dispersed across thousands of addresses on multiple block chains,” the agency said.
“It is expected these assets will be further laundered and eventually converted to fiat currency.”
Fiat currency refers to government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity such as gold.
Bybit has offered a bounty to those that help them recover the losses, setting up an online system to trace and freeze stolen funds.
Chief executive Ben Zhou said transparency was not just a principle, but “our most potent weapon” against cybercrime.
“We are taking a stand to ensure that every transaction is visible and every hacker is held accountable.
“Our multifive-pronged offensive is a clear message: if you steal, you will be found, and justice will be swift,” said Zhou. (dpa/NAN)
The White House has denied reporters from Reuters and other news organisations access to President Donald Trump’s first cabinet meeting in keeping with the administration’s new policy regarding media coverage.
The White House denied access to an Associated Press photographer and three reporters from Reuters, HuffPost and Der Tagesspiegel, a German newspaper.
TV crews from ABC and Newsmax, along with correspondents from Axios, the Blaze, Bloomberg News and NPR were permitted to cover the event.
Earlier, the Trump administration had announced the White House would determine which media outlets would cover the president in smaller spaces such as the Oval Office.
The White House Correspondents’ Association has traditionally coordinated the rotation of the presidential press pool. Reuters, an international wire service, has participated in the pool for decades.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that while traditional media organisations would still be permitted to cover Trump on a day-to-day basis, the administration plans to change who participates in smaller spaces.
The pool system, administered by the WHCA, allowed selected television, radio, wire, print and photojournalists to cover events and share their reporting with the broader media.
The three wire services that have traditionally served as permanent members of the White House pool, are the AP, Bloomberg and Reuters,released on Thursday in a statement
The services “have long worked to ensure that accurate, fair and timely information about the presidency is communicated to a broad audience of all political persuasions, both in the United States and globally.
Much of the White House coverage people see in their local news outlets, wherever they are in the world, comes from the wires,” the statement from the three organisations said.
“It is essential in a democracy for the public to have access to news about their government from an independent, free press.”
Huffpost called the White House decision a violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of the press.
Der Tagesspiegel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier, the WHCA also issued a statement protesting the new White House policy.
The move follows the Trump administration’s decision to bar the Associated Press from being in the pool because it has declined to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, the name Trump has assigned the body of water, or update its widely followed stylebook to reflect such a change.
Leavitt said the five major cable and broadcast television networks would continue to hold their rotating seats in the pool while the White House would add streaming services.
Rotating print reporters and radio reporters would continue to be included, while new outlets and radio hosts would be added. (Reuters/NAN)
