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DAKAR, Senegal (AP) \u2014 An airstrike targeting an armed group in northwestern Nigeria<\/a> mistakenly killed at least 10 civilians, the West African nation\u2019s military said Friday.<\/p>\n The villagers were killed on Christmas Day when the air force targeted a logistics base of the Lakurawa insurgent group in the Silame area of Sokoto state, Edward Buba, Nigerian defense spokesperson, told journalists at a press conference.<\/p>\n On Thursday, the Sokoto state government said the air force mistakenly shelled the villagers in the early hours of Wednesday in an attempt to dislodge the insurgents from the area.<\/p>\n See for yourself \u2014 The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n However, on Friday, Buba said only that the Lakurawa insurgents were directly hit by munitions and that the civilians died from \u201csecondary explosions.\u201d<\/p>\n The Lakurawa insurgent group began infiltrating Africa\u2019s most populous country following a wave of coups that disrupted Nigeria’s relations with neighboring Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, hurting their ability to cooperate on transnational threats.<\/p>\n Initially gaining local support by helping communities defend themselves against armed cattle rustlers, the group later sought to impose strict Islamic laws across border communities of the French-speaking countries.<\/p>\n Airstrikes on civilians happen frequently in the country. Last year, at least 85<\/a> civilians were killed when an army drone attack erroneously targeted a religious gathering in northwest Nigeria.<\/p>\n Since 2017, some 400 civilians have been killed by such accidental strikes by the military, according to the Lagos-based SBM Intelligence security firm.<\/p>\n Before the Lakurawa insurgents, Nigeria had been battling Boko Haram in the northeastern part of the country. Boko Haram launched an insurgency in 2009<\/a> to establish its radical interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, in the region.<\/p>\n The group has since splintered into different factions, together accounting for the deaths of at least 35,000 people and the displacement of more than 2 million, as well as a humanitarian crisis with millions of people in dire need of foreign aid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nTrusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox<\/h4>\n