Calling the incident “disturbing”, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday ordered an investigation after the army acknowledged one of its drones mistakenly struck the village of Tudun Biri on Sunday as residents celebrated a festival.

The army did not give any casualty figures, but emergency officials and residents had said 85 people, many of them women and children, were killed.

“The Northwest Zonal Office has received details from the local authorities that 85 dead bodies have so far been buried while the search is still ongoing,” National Emergency Management Agency said in a statement. Another 66 people were being treated at hospital. Many of the victims were women, children and elderly.