An airstrike targeting an armed group in northwestern Nigeria mistakenly killed at least 10 civilians, the West African nation's military said Friday. 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. 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. However, on Friday, Buba said only that the Lakurawa insurgents were directly hit by munitions and that the civilians died from secondary explosions. The Lakurawa insurgent group began infiltrating Africa's most populous country following a wave of coups that disrupted Nigeria's relations with neighbouring Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, hurting their ability to cooperate on transnational threats. Initially gaining local