Nigeria Military Airstrikes Kill Seven Children in Niger

A Nigerian military airstrike targeting bandits has killed seven children and injured five others in the southern part of neighboring Niger.

A local governor of the Maradi region near Nigeria, Chaibou Aboubacar, confirmed the incident to the French news agency on Sunday.

Aboubacar said the strike occurred on Friday in the village of Nachade and that four of the children died instantly while three others died on their way to the hospital.

He said, “There was a mistake with the Nigeria strikes on the border that resulted in victims in our territory.”

Aboubacar visited the children’s graves on Saturday and said the Nigerian military planes were combing the area for bandits, local criminal gangs operating in northwest Nigeria, who kill people or kidnap them for ransom.