Nigerian jet 'kills at least 50' in accidental attack(Graphic Photos)

Aid workers are among the dead, with the Red
Cross saying six of its employees were killed.
The MSF aid agency said it was treating 120
injured people and appealed for help with medical
evacuations.

President Muhammadu Buhari, whose army is
fighting Boko Haram militants, expressed dismay
and urged calm.
The attack took place near the border with
Cameroon where the military is engaged in what it
calls its final push against Boko Haram.
It is thought to be the first time Nigeria's military
has admitted to making such a mistake.


An official from the Borno state government, who
was helping to co-ordinate the evacuation of the
injured by helicopter, told the Associated Press
that 100 people had been killed.
MSF told the BBC that, although it could not
confirm the figure, up to 95 people had died.
"This large-scale attack on vulnerable people who
have already fled from extreme violence is
shocking and unacceptable," said Dr Jean-Clement
Cabrol, MSF director of operations.
"The safety of civilians must be respected. We are
urgently calling on all parties to ensure the
facilitation of medical evacuations by air or road
for survivors who are in need of emergency care."
MSF said it had medical and surgical teams in
Cameroon and Chad ready to treat wounded
patients.
Many of the casualties, it said, were believed to be
displaced people who had fled from areas where
Boko Haram had carried out attacks.
"We are in close contact with our teams, who are
in shock following the event," MSF spokesman
Etienne l'Hermitte said.
Red Cross spokesman Jason Straziuso was
quoted by AP as saying the agency's dead
employees had been "part of a team that had
brought in desperately needed food for over
25,000 displaced persons".
'Regrettable mistake'
Army spokesman Maj-Gen Lucky Irabor said the
jet's pilot had mistakenly believed he was
attacking insurgents.
He said the mission had been ordered after reports
of a gathering of Boko Haram fighters.
The general, who commands counter-insurgency
operations in the north-east, said the air force
would not deliberately target civilians and there
would be an investigation.
A spokesman for the Nigerian president said the
administration would offer help to the government
of Borno state "in attending to this regrettable
operational mistake".
Boko Haram has caused havoc in Africa's most
populous country through a wave of bombings,

assassinations and abductions.
It is fighting to overthrow the government and
create an Islamic state.
Reuters news agency reports that the group has
stepped up attacks in the past few weeks as the
end of the rainy season enabled its fighters to
move more easily in the bush.