Murderous State’s drone attack killed at least 88 persons in Tudun Biri village, Kaduna, Nigeria, on 3 December.

By Harsh Thakor

At least 88 people have been reportedly killed in a mistaken army drone attack” on a religious gathering, during the Mawlid al-Nabi (the birthday of Prophet Muhammad), in the northwest of Nigeria. This ruthless attack is part of a series of cynically so-called “mistakes” in the war of the Nigerian regime against the people.

Children, women and elderly who have been slaughtered are already buried. At least 66 people were injured. On December 6, 2023, foreign news agencies reported that the Nigerian military had taken responsibility for the drone strike on Tudun Biri village in Kaduna State. The Army has admitted that they committed the massacre, but as usual, they claimed that they were targeting terrorists and the villagers, among them children and elderly, were just collateral damage, and the massacre was just a tragic mistake. 

The attack in Tudun Biri village of Kaduna state’s Igabi council area took place as Muslims assembled to observe the holiday celebrating the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. Kaduna Governor Uba Sani said civilians were “mistakenly killed and many others were wounded” by a drone “targeting terrorists and bandits”.

Nigeria’s military often undertakes bombings to mercilessly crush the decade-old rebellion in Nigeria’s north. During the last few years about 400 civilians have been assassinated by airstrikes, while the military claimed it was targeting armed groups.

This year’s January, 39 people were killed in Nasarawa and in December 2022, as well, dozens were murdered in Zamfara. Nigerian officials use the same pretext to “explain” the merciless terror they unleash against the people as the genocidal Zionists do – alleging rebels were taking refuge among civilians using them as human-shields It leaves no stone unturned to preserve the semi-colonial and semi-feudal conditions and its patronise, bureaucrat-capitalist-big-landlord-State, country-selling lackey of imperialism.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu ordered “a thorough and full-fledged investigation into the incident.” Even more cynical was the attendance of the Chief of Army, Taoreed Lagbaja, for praying at the graves with other state representatives. Such “investigations” are often immersed in secrecy and their outcomes never revealed. Even imperialist bodies like Human Rights Watch admit that there is “no justice” in Nigeria. Amnesty International concluded, the people “are the ones paying the price”.

Nigeria’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, apologized for the drone strike during a visit to the village on Tuesday and said it had been carried out “based on the observation of some tactics usually employed by bandits.” “Unfortunately, the reports we got revealed it was innocent civilians that the drone conducted a strike on,” Lagbaja said.

Protests 

Protestors stormed into The National Assembly premises in Abuja, Nigeria on the 6th of December to demand justice for the victims of a drone attack in Tudun Biri. The protesters blocked the entrance of the National Assembly for more than two hours. They demanded that the Minister of Defense, Abubakar Badaru and the National Assembly take action to stop the murdering of civilians. The protestors denounced similar State terror attacks that happens daily in the northern parts of Nigeria, and alleged that these operations of the army do nothing to protect the civilians from the supposed “bandits and terrorists”.

The Nigerian State is trying to evade responsibility for the murder by offering empty condolences to the families, but still pledges to continue the war against the people. The president Bola Tinubu sent a delegation to express condolences of the State to the families of those murdered. Cynically the leader of the delegation, Minister of State of Kaduna for Defense, Bello Matawalle, said in a statement that the massacre is regrettable, but it affirmed it is imperative to continue waging the ”war against terror”. At the time of the protests, a delegation from the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria visited the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, in Abuja. Abbas asked the US to support Nigeria to tackle “insecurity and corruption”, requesting more support to the ”war against terror” and thanking the US for the support they already give. He warned that the failure of Nigeria would have dramatic consequences to the region, saying that currently the country is “bedeviled by insecurity”.

Harsh Thakor is a freelance journalist-Thanks information from Red Herald ,abc news and Al Jazeera