Death toll in botched Nigeria airstrike soars to 70
Print Edition
THE death toll from a botched airstrike on Boko Haram fighters in northeast Nigeria rose to 70 yesterday, as aid agencies indicated more could die without urgent treatment.
Nigeria called Tuesday’s incident at a camp for displaced people in Rann a mistake and blamed the “fog of war,” sparking strong condemnation from aid agencies working in the crisis-hit region.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which lost six members of its Nigerian affiliate, said: “It is estimated that 70 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded.”
ICRC surgeon Laurent Singa, part of a team dispatched to Rann shortly after the bombing, described the conditions for post-operative care as “not adequate.”
“All the patients must be evacuated to (the Borno state capital) Maiduguri as soon as possible,” he added in a statement.
Nine patients were said to be in a critical condition and were evacuated to Maiduguri on Tuesday. Forty-six of the 90 that remain were said to be “severely injured.”
They needed to be transferred “as a matter of urgency,” the ICRC said, adding: “Patients are attended to in an open-air space in a precarious environment.”
Public hospitals and doctors in the city have been put on standby to receive the wounded but there were already reports that some casualty departments were overwhelmed.
Aid agencies assisting the hundreds of thousands of people in northeast Nigeria in dire need of food, shelter, clean water and health care expressed shock and dismay at the bombing.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, called it “a truly catastrophic event,” calling for a full investigation to take place to prevent any repeat.
Jean-Clement Cabrol, the director of operations for the medical charity MSF, which earlier gave a death toll of 52 and 120 injured, called the attack “shocking and unacceptable.”
The secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, said: “Displacement camps are supposed to be safe havens for people fleeing war and conflict.”
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