THE Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Christopher and the Minister of State for Defence Bello Matawalle have visited the victims of Sunday’s accidental Tudun Biri bombing in the Igabi area of Kaduna State.
Eighty-five persons were killed and 66 injured in the incident that the Nigerian Army has claimed responsibility for. But days after the bombing, the CDS and minister visited the victims at the Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital in Kaduna.
They were received by the Deputy Chief Medical Director of the hospital Dr Shuaibu Musa. Matawalle and the Chief of Defence Staff went through different wards in the hospital to commiserate with the injured.
“We are not going to relent in our actions because these criminals must be defeated by God’s grace,” Matawalle, a former Zamfara governor, told the press after the visit.
“So, we are going to continue fighting the criminals till we succeed in fighting against banditry and other criminality in this country.”
He prayed for the repose of the dead victims and a quick recovery for those wounded in the accidental bombing.
While giving an update about the victims, Dr Shuaibu said 71 persons were brought to the hospital but one died last night.
“So, we have a total of 71 patients that were brought in. Of these 71, one died last night. So, we have about 70 currently in admission,” the doctor said.
“Most of them, we have stabilized, those that needed blood, we transfused. For those that needed surgery, emergency surgery, we did carry out the emergency surgeries and many of them are now stable and we are about to start discharging some of them that are even stable.
“Some of them with minor degrees of injuries may be discharged to the community.”
He said the CDS promised to give the victims “something” for feeding and also laundry. The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) said that terrorists were embedded with civilians in the wake of the accidental air strike.
A survivor Idris Tahiru, said the bomb was thrown twice, adding that about 90 persons were affected by the accidental bombing.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja had on the same day visited the site of the incident and regretted the development. He also apologised to the community over the matter, promising to halt a repeat of such an incident.
President Tinubu has ordered a probe into the matter with the opposition Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar of the Labour Party (LP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) singing from the same hymn sheet.