Around 30 civilians were killed when an unidentified airplane dropped a bomb on a Nigerian border village, military sources based nearby in Niger said on Wednesday.
Two military officials in the town of Bosso, where soldiers from Chad and Niger are massed in preparation for operations against Boko Haram, said the incident occurred in a village across the border in the Abadam area of Nigeria's Borno State.
"We don't know whose plane it was. We understand that the victims are residents who were gathered for a ceremony but who were mistaken for terrorists," said a military source.
"Around 30 people perished."
A second military source in Bosso, which is around 20 km (12 miles) from the scene of the bombing, confirmed details of the incident.
Boko Haram, which is seeking to carve an Islamic emirate out of northeastern Nigeria, killed an estimated 10,000 people there last year, and it has also expanded its zone of operations across the region's porous borders.
Amid growing international concern, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin are preparing a 8,700-strong force to defeat the militants.
Source: Reuters
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