Togolese army admits to killing 7 teenagers

By Aurore Bonny

DOUALA, Cameroon (AA) - Togo's Armed Forces admitted responsibility Thursday for an explosion over the weekend in a village in the northern town of Dapaong that left seven teenagers dead and two others injured.

"It was during operations that an aircraft on night patrol mistakenly targeted a group of people it mistook for a column of terrorists on the move," said Brigadier General Maganawe Dadja, chief of staff of the Togolese Armed Forces (FAT).

The army has announced "necessary measures" in the wake of the incident, with the victims said to be children ranging between the ages of 14-18. They were reportedly returning from celebrations marking the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha when they were killed.

The tragedy occurred against the backdrop of consistent intelligence reports of threats of infiltration by armed gangs intent on carrying out terrorist attacks against localities in the area north of Dapaong, according to Dadja.

It was following this information that an anti-terrorist operation dubbed Koundjore was conducted to "reinforce the surveillance and the ground and air control in the area indicated," he added, expressing the army’s "deep regret" over the deaths.

Christian Trimua, Togo's human rights minister and government spokesman, reported in a statement that local authorities had rushed to the village concerned to visit the families of the victims.

The purpose was to "share with the families in all transparency" the results of the investigation carried out by the Togolese Armed Forces and to "give them first-hand information, the necessary explanations of the context in which the tragedy occurred," he said.

Dadja announced Sunday the opening of the investigation while calling on people to avoid nonessential night movements in respect of the state of emergency in force in Togo’s Savannah region.

Togo is in a tense security situation. In May this year, militants carried out a deadly raid in the country’s north in which eight soldiers were killed and 13 seriously wounded.