Boko Haram: Military speaks on alleged hit of Chibok girls by airstrike

The Defence Headquarters says it is examining the latest video from Boko Haram group purporting to show some of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls.

Director Defence Information, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar on Sunday told PRNigeria that the military was examining the video clip to verify its authenticity.

He said: “Currently we are studying the video clips to verify its authenticity and analysing the comments of the speakers in the video especially the terrorist member and the girl that spoke in mother tongue.”

On allegations in the video that some of the kidnapped girls were hit by an airstrike, he said: “It is extremely difficult and rare to hit innocent people during airstrike because the operation is done through precision attack on identified and registered targets and locations.

“The Precision Airstrike is very effective at taking out targeted enemies because it is not a random operation. We are nevertheless studying the video clips to examine if the victims died from other causes rather from the allegation of airstrike.”

A top airforce officer told PRNigeria that “Nigeria Airforce employs precision guided weapons with modern Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance systems to reduce likely collateral damage from any airstrike.

“All the areas stroke throughout the operation were thoroughly monitored on intelligence surveillance and eye services before the attacks or shelling.

“Most of the targets areas were clearly identified before the air strikes to avoid collateral damages”, he added.