News - World: The US government played a secret role in a military operation in Nigeria in 2017 that killed hundreds of civilians, a damning new report has revealed, painting a harrowing picture of US Africa Command's conduct in the region.

According to a Freedom of Information Act report obtained by The Intercept, US intelligence was secretly involved in the disastrous bombing of an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Nigeria that led to the killing of more than 160 civilians, most of them children.

The bombardment was carried out in January 2017 on the camp located in Nigeria’s city of Rann, near the Cameroonian and Chadian borders, which housed 43,000 people and was controlled by the Nigerian Arm.

It led to the destruction of at least 35 structures, including shelters for war victims, besides killing nine aid workers and critically wounding over 120 people.

According to survivors of the attack, a surveillance plane flew over the camp, before another plane bombed the area where the population drew water from a well. The jet then circled and dropped another bomb on the refugees’ tents, decimating the whole camp.

The attack, branded as a ‘US-Nigeria operation’, was carried out under the guise of a counterinsurgency campaign against the armed group Boko Haram.

In a statement one day after the attack, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) regretted carrying out the airstrike and explained that “the site was not reflected on the operational map as a humanitarian base.”

“Hence, it appeared as a place that could equally be used for enemy activities,” said Major Gen. John Enenche, Nigeria’s director of defense information.

Nigerian human rights organizations and activists questioned how the military could be unaware of the camp and accused the NAF of a cover-up as the refugees’ tents were completely visible from the air, according to satellite imagery.

A year after the offensive, human rights lawyer Femi Falana called on National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to compensate victims of the airstrike.

In The Intercept report, it is revealed that the US government secretly provided intelligence or other support such as background information to the Nigerian military before bombing the area.

“You will gather and preserve any background information that is relevant to a complete understanding of the US-Nigerian operations such as this strike,” reads the document.

According to the document obtained by The Intercept, just days after the attack, the US Africa Command (AFRICOM) secretly commissioned Brigadier General Frank J. Stokes, deputy director of the Strategy, Engagement and Programs Directorate, to conduct an “investigation to determine the facts and circumstances of a kinetic airstrike by Nigerian military forces in and around Rann, Nigeria”. However, the findings of the investigation were never published.

“Civilian victims, and the American and Nigerian publics, deserve answers about any US role in this devastating strike,” said Annie Shiel, senior adviser for the United States at the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC).

“What exactly was the United States’s involvement? What were the findings of the investigation — including findings of wrongdoing — and what kind of responsibility does the U.S. acknowledge for the grave harm caused?”

“As the US continues to deepen its security assistance to Nigeria… we also need far more transparency about what steps have been taken to prevent and respond to civilian harm using US assistance,” said Shiel, adding that Congress should demand clarifications from military authorities.

Source: Press TV