Fresh revelations have emerged surrounding the tragic airstrike in Zamfara State's Maraya/Wabi axis on Saturday, which left at least 25 people dead, including 20 suspected bandits and five members of a local vigilante group.

Eyewitness accounts and video footage obtained by PRNigeria confirm that warnings were issued to villagers and local vigilantes prior to the operation but were largely ignored?ultimately contributing to the civilian casualties.

In a three-minute video recorded shortly after the incident, two community elders disclosed that the military had informed them about an imminent aerial operation targeting terrorist hideouts in the area. They said they were instructed to urge residents, particularly the youth and armed local security volunteers, to evacuate the danger zone and move to safer outskirts of the village.

?We clearly warned them,? said one elder, speaking in Hausa. ?We told the youths and others to move to the entrance of the village, far from where the confrontation was expected. A jet cannot distinguish between a fleeing bandit and an armed vigilante. Once it sees movement, it strikes.?

Another speaker reiterated that failure to heed the warnings led to avoidable loss of life.

According to him, although the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) jet successfully struck bandit positions, some of the criminals had already fled into surrounding forests?while some villagers and vigilantes were mistakenly caught in the line of fire.

?The military told me to inform everyone to evacuate. But when I passed on the message, some youths mocked me and said I was just scared,? he lamented. ?I tried to explain that a fighter jet operates based on movement and intelligence?it cannot differentiate between civilians and terrorists from the air.?

?Just as we were leaving Maraya, the fighter jet arrived. It hovered briefly, then targeted exactly where we were warned it would. Anyone still around was likely to be considered hostile. That was when the tragedy occurred.?

He added that efforts to place emergency calls to warn others failed due to poor network coverage in the area.

The Nigerian military later confirmed that its air component under Operation Hadarin Daji, in coordination with troops from the 1 Brigade of the Nigerian Army stationed at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Magami, neutralized no fewer than 20 bandits during the operation. The air raid was launched following distress calls about bandit activity in Wabi village, and was supported by a ground offensive.

While the military operation has been commended for disrupting criminal elements in the region, the unintended deaths of local vigilantes and residents have sparked mixed reactions within the affected communities.

Some residents acknowledged that the military should not be blamed for the civilian casualties.

?It was not a surprise attack,? said a villager from Maraya. ?Our elders tried to warn everyone. Sadly, some of the young men refused to listen. We lost lives that could have been saved.?

The incident underscores the complex challenges of operating in conflict zones where armed civilians and insurgents often intermingle, making precise identification difficult during aerial operations. (PRNigeria)

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